Sessions

We will open with an honorary tribute to the LA Fire Foundation.

Keynote speaker introduction by Supremna Cole, Managing Director, Loan Portfolio Manager, Wells Fargo Capital Finance

Our Opening Keynote Speaker,  Admiral James Stavridis, was the 16th Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, and is currently Vice Chair, Global Affairs and Managing Director of The Carlyle Group. He is a New York Times bestselling author.

Admiral Stavridis attended the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, and spent 37 years in the Navy, rising to the rank of 4-star Admiral. Among his many commands were four years as the 16th Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, where he oversaw operations in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, the Balkans, and counter piracy off the coast of Africa. He also commanded US Southern Command in Miami, charged with military operations through Latin America for nearly three years. He was the longest serving Combatant Commander in recent US history. Following his military career, he served for five years as the 12th Dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

In the course of his career in the Navy, he served as senior military assistant to the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of Defense. He led the Navy’s premier operational think tank for innovation, Deep Blue, immediately after the 9/11 attacks. Admiral Stavridis was promoted directly from 1-star rank to 3-star rank in 2004.

Admiral Stavridis has published thirteen books on leadership, character, risk, the oceans, maritime affairs, and Latin America, as well as hundreds of articles in leading journals. An active user of social networks, he has tens of thousands of connections on the social networks. His TED talk on 21st century security in 2012 has close to one million views. He tweeted the end of combat operations in the Libyan NATO intervention. Two of his most popular books are the novel 2034: A Novel of the Next World War which was a New York Times bestseller and is being published in 22 languages; and To Risk It All: Nine Conflicts and The Crucible of Decision. His most recent book is 2054 which is about artificial intelligence and geopolitics.

Admiral Stavridis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, Chief International Security Analyst for NBC News, and Vice Chairman of The Carlyle Group.