Get to know the 15 Big Kansas City speakers

Next week, Big Kansas City will welcome a lineup of 15 speakers. Leaders from the tech, nonprofit, marketing, music, digital media and corporate sectors will fill two days with incredible insight for the conference’s attendees. With such a variety of backgrounds and all experiencing incredible success independently, this is surely one of the best lineups…

We’re heading into year two of Big Kansas City, and looking forward to sharing your stories and those of our speakers over the next few weeks. All of this wouldn’t be possible without our content partner, Pinsight Media+. They are a pioneer in mobile media with deep entrepreneurial roots. Their team brings leadership, experience and global awareness to Kansas City’s booming startup community. To learn more or talk with our friends at Pinsight, email Serge Bushman, sbushman@pinsightmedia.com.


Neil BlumenthalWarby Parker co-founder and co-CEO Neil Blumenthal will speak at Big Kansas City on October 10.

Next week, Big Kansas City will welcome a lineup of 15 speakers. Leaders from the tech, nonprofit, marketing, music, digital media and corporate sectors will fill two days with incredible insight for the conference’s attendees. With such a variety of backgrounds and all experiencing incredible success independently, this is surely one of the best lineups in Big Event history.

Take a look at the all-star lineup, and get acquainted with this year’s speakers through the bios and related content provided. (Speakers listed in order of appearance during conference). 

Jason Zone Fisher

Jason Zone Fisher – 2014 Emcee

@JZFish

Jason has spent his entire life in the entertainment industry. He’s worked as a TV host, producer and brand spokesman for MTV, Nickelodeon, Big Ten, CNBC, Skype and Gillette, among many others. He returns to Big Kansas City as his second year as emcee.

More on Jason

John Wirtz

John Wirtz – Hudl

@jmwirtz

John is a co-founder and the chief product officer at Hudl, a software company that helps millions of athletes and coaches analyze and share videos. Founded in Lincoln in 2006, Hudl has experienced explosive growth, becoming the largest online community for coaches and athletes in the world.

More on John

Nancy Lublin

Nancy Lublin – DoSomething.org

@nancylublin

Nancy is the CEO of DoSomething.org, the largest social change movement for young people in America with 2.8 million members tackling campaigns that cover a wide variety of causes. She is also the founder of two other nonprofits – Crisis Text Line and Dress for Success.

More on Nancy

Gary Shapiro

Gary Shapiro – CEA

@GaryShapiro

Gary Shapiro is the CEO of Consumer Electronics Association, producers of the world’s largest innovation event, International CES. He’s also the best-selling author of Ninja Innovation and The Comeback and has been honored as a civil rights champion by the Anti-Defamation League.

More on Gary

Maxine Bedat

Maxine Bédat – Zady

@maxinebedat

Maxine is the co-founder of Zady, a lifestyle destination for conscious consumers. The online retailer shares creators’ stories, facilitating a connection to our things and each other. Prior to Zady, she started The Bootstrap Project, of which she is the Executive Director.

More on Maxine

Kimber Lockhart

Kimber Lockhart – One Medical Group

@kimber_lockhart

Kimber Lockhart founded her first company when she was a junior in college. The company, Increo, would soon be sold to tech giant Box, where she would become the senior director of web app engineering. Today she is working towards fixing the healthcare system through leading engineering at One Medical Group.

More on Kimber

Marissa Sackler

Marissa Sackler – Beespace

@marissasackler

Marissa Sackler is launching high impact nonprofits through her nonprofit incubator, Beespace. By reworking the startup incubator model, Sackler and her New York-based Beespace help identify and invest in the next generation of genuine and bold organizations such as The Malala Fund.

More on Marissa

Steve Case

Steve Case – Rise of the Rest

@SteveCase

The co-founder of AOL, Steve Case is one of America’s best-known and most accomplished entrepreneurs and a pioneer in making the Internet part of everyday life. He joins Big Kansas City as a part of the Rise of the Rest Road Trip, a tour across the Midwest, aiming to celebrate and accelerate the region’s entrepreneurs.

More on Steve

Eric Schweikardt

Eric Schweikardt – Modular Robotics

@modrobotics

After receiving his Ph.D from Carnegie Mellon University, Eric Schweikardt founded Modular Robotics. Through Modular Robotics, Eric is developing robot toys to help kids gain intuitions about complexity, patterns and emergence.

More on Eric

Mike Johnston

Mike Johnston – MikesLessons.com

@MikesLessons

Known as one of the world’s finest living drummers, Mike Johnston has been playing since age 5. At 21 he began playing on world tours, but after a few years he decided to focus his talent into teaching. Through MikesLessons.com, he has created one of the most successful online music programs and has assisted in pioneering the online music lesson marketplace.

 More on Mike

Shradha Agarwal

Shradha Agarwal – ContextMedia

@shr4dha

Shradha Argarwal is the co-founder of ContextMedia, where she is bringing health information when & where it matters. Using targeted programming, her company is impacting more than 60 million patients. Additionally, Shradha is a partner at Chicago firm JumpStart Ventures.

More on Shradha

Niel Blumenthal

Neil Blumenthal – Warby Parker

@NeilBlumenthal

Neil loves helping people see. As the co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker, he’s offering designer eyewear at a revolutionary price, while distributing a pair of glasses to someone in need for every pair sold. At only four years old, Warby Parker has already distributed more than 1 million pairs of glasses to people in need.

More on Neil

Anita Newton

Anita Newton – Kauffman Founders School

@AnitaBNewton

Anita has led marketing at some of the nation’s largest and most respected companies including Procter & Gamble, Sprint, AMC Theatres and now Adknowledge. Her experience in the startup world includes years of consultant work as well as a position as CMO at Zave Networks, who was acquired by Google in 2011. Recently, Kauffman Founders School chose Anita to head the Entrepreneurial Marketing program on their platform.

More on Anita

Kimberly Bryant

Kimberly Bryant – Black Girls Code

@6gems

As the founder of Black Girls Code, Kimberly Bryant is empowering young women of color ages 7-17, helping them embrace the current tech marketplace as builders and creators while giving them the tools to develop self confidence. As a result, she wishes to change the makeup of the future tech industry.

More on Kimberly

Marc Hemeon

Marc Hemeon – Google Ventures/North Technologies

@hemeon

Marc Hemeon is the co-founder of five companies including his latest venture with Kevin Rose, North Technologies. Over his career he has led design at Oakley, digg, and Youtube, including the 2012 site-wide redesign. Currently he serves as entrepreneur in residence at Google Ventures.

More on Marc

 

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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