2026 Speakers
Keynote Speaker
Derek Thompson
Host of Plain English and Co-author (with Ezra Klein) of the New York Times best seller Abundance
Derek Thompson is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, journalist, and podcaster who does the deep reporting necessary to help us better understand how we live, how we vote, how we spend, and how we work.
Co-author of Abundance (with Ezra Klein), he reveals how policy and culture have pushed us into a world of scarcity, and offers new paths to a world where housing is affordable, energy is plentiful, and innovation flourishes across industries.
His debut book, Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction, a national bestseller, reveals why success is rarely accidental. His follow-up, On Work, examines the past and future of labor and technology.
His podcast, Plain English, cuts through the noise surrounding the big questions and headlines that matter most. He also writes Work in Progress, a widely read newsletter on harnessing innovation and productivity to solve some of America’s biggest problems.
A former staff writer at The Atlantic, Derek earned the Society of American Business Editors and Writers’ Best in Business Award for columns and commentary.
The New York Times’ David Brooks praised Abundance and its co-authors as visionaries who “inspire hope and enlarge the imagination by describing the good things that are actually within our grasp.” In his talks, Derek brings the book’s lessons to life, showing audiences how to shift their mindset, build for success, and spark extraordinary growth.
Speakers & Respondents
Clark Barrett
Mizuki Asano & Thomas McGrath Professor of Computer Science, Stanford University
Clark Barrett is the Mizuki Asano and Thomas McGrath Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, where he directs the Stanford Center for Automated Reasoning and co-directs the Stanford Center for AI Safety. His research focuses on automated reasoning techniques to improve the reliability and security of software, hardware, and AI systems. Before joining Stanford in 2016, he was an associate professor at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University. He is an Amazon Scholar, an ACM Fellow, and a two-time recipient of the Computer Aided Verification award.
Susan Ellenberg
Santa Clara County Supervisor
Susan Ellenberg is the elected Supervisor for Santa Clara County’s District 4, representing nearly 400,000 residents. She serves as Chair of the Public Safety and Justice Committee and Vice-Chair of the Finance and Government Operations Committee, where she oversees county policy and budget decisions.
A former attorney, educator, and school board member, Ellenberg applies her policy expertise to advancing health and wellness initiatives across the county. Her oversight includes Santa Clara Valley Healthcare, one of the largest medical systems in the county and California’s second-largest county-owned public health and hospital system, serving more than 400,000 people each year. She also championed the COMPASS Clinic, expanding substance use treatment, and co-authored the county’s 2022 public health crisis declaration to strengthen coordinated mental health and substance use services.
Doug Henton
President & Chair Emeritus, Collaborative Economics, Inc.
Doug Henton has decades of experience in economic and community development at the national, region, state, and local levels. He is nationally recognized for his work bringing industry, government, education, research and community leaders together around collaborative projects. In the early 1990s he was project manager for the start-up of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, then served as Joint Venture's chief economist, and was the architect of the annual Silicon Valley Index. With colleagues Kim Walesh and John Melville, he is the author of Grassroots Leader for the New Economy: How Civic Entrepreneurs Are Building Prosperous Communities.
Shashank V. Joshi
Professor and Senior Associate Vice Provost for Academic Wellbeing, Stanford University
Dr. Shashank Joshi is Professor and Senior Associate Vice Provost for Academic Wellbeing at Stanford University. He serves as Director of School Mental Health and Director of combined training in Pediatrics, General Psychiatry and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry for Stanford Children’s Health.
