Headline Rock Acts

Anne Morriss

Diversity

Anne Morriss has spent the last twenty years building and leading mission-driven enterprises, serving most recently as CEO and Co-Founder of GenePeeks, a computational genomics company developing breakthrough ways to identify genetic risk. Anne founded the company after her son was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease. Anne has worked with entrepreneurs, companies, and governments throughout the United States and Latin America on strategy, leadership, and organizational change. She worked as a senior advisor with the OTF Group, launched the Concise Leadership Institute, and served as the founding Chair of InnerCity Weightlifting, a groundbreaking NGO enabling an unprecedented reduction in youth violence in Boston. Anne currently serves on the national Board of IGNITE and on the Board of Overseers for Boston’s Museum of Science. She co-authored the best-selling book Uncommon Service and is now writing a second book on how emerging leaders can remove barriers to impact. Anne received her BA from Brown University and MBA from Harvard Business School.

Bernard Coleman III

Diversity

Bernard joined Uber as the Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) in January 2017. In this role, he drives the D&I programs through meaningful relationships, both internally and externally, as well as promotes Uber as a leader in ride sharing, and as a forerunner in D&I engagement. Prior to Uber, Bernard led Hillary for America’s D&I and HR initiatives, as the first ever Chief Diversity and Human Resources Officer in U.S. history for any presidential campaign and political party. Bernard’s written for Catalyst, SHRM and his insights have appeared in the Nasdaq Government Clearinghouse and the Huffington Post. Bernard holds an M.B.A. from Trinity University, a B.A. in psychology from Hampton University, a Strategic Diversity and Inclusion Management certification from Georgetown University, and is a graduate of the University of Virginia's Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership.

Cornell William Brooks

Diversity

Moving, motivating, informative and insightful, Brooks brings both a proud personal heritage and a thought-provoking vision to the podium. Brooks has picked up the mantle of the powerful orators that have influenced him, including Dr. Martin Luther King. He has actively embraced Black Lives Matter within the evolving continuum of civil rights activism. His stirring keynotes inspire audiences to broaden their perspectives, expand their definition of inclusion and diversity, eliminate inequality and honor the history and ever-evolving mission of the civil and human rights movement.

Ferguson. Staten Island. North Charleston. Cleveland. Cornell Brooks has traveled the nation, led a 40-day march from Selma to Washington, D.C. and continues to stand shoulder to shoulder with those advocating for justice and change.

Dr. Eddie Glaude, Jr.

Diversity

Glaude began his teaching career at Bowdoin College where he served as chair of the Department of Religion. Glaude has received numerous awards including the Carl A. Fields Award and was a Visiting Scholar in African-American Studies at Harvard University and Amherst College. His first book, Exodus! Religion, Race, and Nation in Early 19th Century Black America won the Modern Language Association's William Sanders Scarborough Book Prize. Glaude has appeared on The Tavis Smiley Show, Fox News's Hannity & Colmes Show, CNN, MSNBC, C-SPAN, and NBC Meet the Press. Along with Cornel West and Michael Eric Dyson, he also appeared in the documentary Stand, produced and directed by Tavis Smiley. He is a contributor to the Huffington Post and is well known for being a regular contributor and panelist during the State of the Black Union. In 2007, Glaude delivered the Founder's Day Convocation keynote address during the 140th anniversary of Morehouse College.

Frances Frei

Diversity

Widely regarded as one of the top business strategy experts in the world, Frances Frei is the UPS Foundation Professor of Service Management at Harvard Business School and the co-author of the best-selling book, Uncommon Service. Her research and keynotes focus on how leaders can compete on excellence by designing, managing, and scaling exceptional service organizations.

Trust is the foundation for everything we do. But what do we do when it's broken? In an eye-opening talk, Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei gives a crash course in trust: how to build it, maintain it and rebuild it -- something she worked on during a recent stint at Uber. "If we can learn to trust one another more, we can have unprecedented human progress," Frei says.

Luvvie Ajayi Jones

Diversity

Luvvie Ajayi is known for her trademark wit, warm voice, and exceptional integrity. But even she’s been challenged by the enemy of progress known as fear. She was once afraid to call herself a writer because she was afraid of the title. She nearly skipped out on doing a TED talk that changed her life because of imposter syndrome. Also, she’s deathly afraid of bugs. And, as she shares in Professional Troublemaker, she’s not alone.

We’re all afraid of asking for what we want because we’re afraid of hearing “no.” We’re afraid of being different, of being too much or not enough. We’re afraid of leaving behind the known for the unknown. But in order to do the things that will truly, meaningfully change our lives, we have to become professional troublemakers: people who are committed to not letting fear talk them out of the things they need to do or say.

With humor and honesty, and guided by the influence of her inspiring and professional troublemaking grandmother, Funmilayo Faloyin, Luvvie walks us through what we must get right within ourselves before we can do the things that scare us; how to use our voice for a greater good; and how to put movement to the voice we’ve been silencing–because truth-telling is a muscle.

The point is not to be fearless. It is to know we are afraid and to charge forward regardless, to recognize the things we must do are more significant than the things we are afraid to do. This book shows you how she’s done it, and how you can, too.

Neil Patrick Harris

Diversity

After first entering America's homes regularly as the title character, Doogie Howser, MD., Neil Patrick Harris has been a fixture of American pop-culture for nearly three decades. Starring on the hit TV show, How I Met Your Mother, Neil plays "Barney," a philandering playboy, which ran its ninth and final season on CBS for which Neil won multiple awards including the Emmy. Other notable film credits include The Smurfs and the Harold and Kumar franchises. An avid fan of live theater, Neil has also performed on Broadway in both musical (Sweeney Todd), dramatic roles (Proof) and even hosted the Tony Awards three times ('09, '11, '12).

Outside of his acting work, Neil is also an accomplished magician having won the Tannen's Magic Louis Award in 2006. He currently serves as the President of the Board of Directors for the world-famous Hollywood Magic Castle.

In 2010, Neil was named one of TIME magazine's '100 Most Influential People of 2010.' Neil currently resides in Los Angeles.

Omar Jimenez

Diversity

Jimenez started with CNN in 2017 for the network's affiliate service, CNN Newsource, based in Washington, D.C. While there, he covered breaking news stories for CNN's more than 900 affiliates nationwide reporting both in the United States and internationally in France and Mexico. Among his work at Newsource: He reported from the ground in Paris in the aftermath of the Notre Dame Cathedral fire; from Las Vegas just hours after the mass shooting there, the deadliest in modern American history; and from Florida and Texas during the 2017 hurricanes that became part of CNN's Emmy-nominated coverage. Prior to joining CNN, Jimenez worked for WBAL-TV in Baltimore, Maryland where he was a reporter and fill-in anchor. While there, he received an individual Emmy nomination for general assignment reporting.

Wilmer Valderrama

Diversity

Valderrama is best known for the role of Fez in the sitcom That '70s Show and as Carlos Madrigal in From Dusk till Dawn: The Series. He was also the host of the MTV series Yo Momma, the voice of Manny in the children's show Handy Manny, and has had recurring roles on Grey's Anatomy as well as The Ranch. He is currently part of the main cast of NCIS, portraying Special Agent Nick Torres.

Valderrama has further performed in several prominent feature films, including Party Monster, Beauty Shop, Fast Food Nation, Unaccompanied Minors (2006), Larry Crowne, and The Adderall Diaries. He voiced the character of Prince Philippe Charming in the family animated film Charming.