Featured Speakers
 Florida |
 Grant |
 Henton |
 Swearengin |
Richard Florida He is author of The Flight of the Creative Class and Cities and the Creative Class. His previous books, especially The Breakthrough Illusion and Beyond Mass Production, paved the way for his provocative looks at how creativity is revolutionizing the global economy. Mr. Florida is a regular correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly and a regular columnist for The Globe and Mail. He has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Economist, and The Harvard Business Review. He has been featured as an expert on MSNBC, CNN, BBC, NPR and CBS, to name just a few. Mr. Florida has also been appointed to the Business Innovation Factory's Research Advisory Council and recently named European Ambassador for Creativity and Innovation. His ideas on the “creative class,” commercial innovation, and regional development have been featured in major ad campaigns from BMW and Apple, and are being used globally to change the way regions and nations do business and transform their economies. Mr. Florida is one of the world’s leading public intellectuals on economic competitiveness, demographic trends, and cultural and technological innovation. International diplomats, government leaders, filmmakers, economic development organizations and leading Fortune 100 businesses have benefited from his global approach to problem-solving and strategy development. He is one of the world's most sought after speakers on global trends, economics, prosperity, competitiveness and growth. Combining in-depth analysis, cutting-edge trends, a fascinating personal story, and just a touch of self-deprecating humor, it’s no wonder Florida was recently named one of Esquire Magazine’s Best and Brightest, alongside luminaries such as Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Sachs. Heather McLeod Grant Additionally, she serves as an advisor to the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, and to leading nonprofits and foundations. She is a former McKinsey & Company consultant and a co-founder of Who Cares, a national magazine for young social entrepreneurs published from 1993-1999. Ms. Grant teaches at Stanford, and speaks and presents widely at industry conferences on Forces for Good, social entrepreneurship, nonprofit leadership, and strategic philanthropy. She has been published in the New York Times, Inc., the American Prospect, and Alliance, and has appeared on CNN and NPR. Ms. Grant serves on the Advisory Boards of the Stanford Social Innovation Review and the National Civic League. She holds an MBA from Stanford University and an AB from Harvard University, and resides in the Bay Area with her husband and daughter. Doug Henton Doug is a consultant to the California Economic Strategy Panel, California’s state economic strategy process linked to innovation, industry clusters, and regions. He has worked extensively in California to help develop regional economic and innovation strategies for Silicon Valley, Sonoma, Sacramento, Santa Barbara, San Diego, the Central Valley, and others. He was primary consultant to the Fresno’s Regional Jobs Initiative, which used the clusters of opportunity methodology to identifying promising areas for development. Doug has also consulted with the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, advising on economic development strategies. He has worked with the Great Valley Center on identifying promising areas for economic development, including renewable energy. In addition, Doug has worked with Next 10 on the continued development of the California Green Innovation Index. He has also been consultant to several other state and regional agencies and organizations, including the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, Chicago Metropolis 2020, the Potomac Conference, and Arizona Partnership for a New Economy. He has assisted Oregon with its current strategy for economic development, and has advised governors in New York, Ohio, Washington, and others on their economic and workforce policies. Doug holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Economics from Yale University and a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Mayor Ashley Swearengin Mayor Swearengin was born in Texas and raised in Arkansas. When she was in high school, her family relocated to Fresno – the city she has called home ever since. After high school, Mayor Swearengin earned her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in business administration, both from California State University, Fresno – graduating with honors. Her degrees initially led her to the field of marketing, where she served in leadership roles with several private sector firms. In 2000, she accepted the position of Director of Community and Economic Development at Fresno State where she worked to improve the lives of Fresno families through workforce development strategies and educational initiatives. Then, in 2002, Mayor Swearengin co-founded the Regional Jobs Initiative (RJI), a comprehensive, industry-focused effort aimed at attacking chronic unemployment in Fresno County. During her tenure as Chief Operations Officer for the RJI, job creation in the Fresno region was her main focus. In 2005, Mayor Swearengin became lead executive for the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, a high-level working group established by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to address critical resource needs in the region. Through the Partnership, hundreds of community and business leaders, government officials, educators, policymakers and residents from all walks of life in the eight-county San Joaquin Valley and beyond are working together like never before to find and implement solutions that will improve the quality of life for all in the region. Governor Schwarzenegger recently appointed Mayor Swearengin as Deputy Chair of the Partnership's Board of Directors. Mayor Swearengin’s honors include being named Alumnus of the Year by Leadership Fresno and one of Fresno’s Top Business and Professional Women of the Year by the Marjaree Mason Center. Her husband, Paul, is General Manager and an on-air personality for a local sports radio station. The Swearengins have two children, Sydney and Samuel. Congressman Chaka Fattah He is chair of the Congressional Urban Caucus, a bipartisan group of 57 Members representing America's metropolitan centers. These Members work collaboratively with other stakeholders to address the unique challenges facing America's urban communities.
He is a member of the House Appropriations Committee. Members are responsible for setting spending priorities of over $1 trillion in annual discretionary funds.
Before his election to United States Congress in 1994, Congressman Fattah served six years as a Representative in the State House followed by six years as a State Senator.
He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including 10 honorary doctorates and the University of Pennsylvania’s Fel’s Center of Government Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. Time Magazine named Fattah one of the 50 most promising leaders in the country.
In 1984 he attended Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government where he received a certificate in the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government. In May of 1986, Congressman Fattah earned a Master’s degree in Governmental Administration from the University of Pennsylvania, Fels Center of Government
The Congressman is married to Renee Chenault-Fattah and they have four children. Mrs. Fattah is a lawyer and TV news anchor. Steven Diner Chancellor Diner has devoted himself to building Rutgers-Newark as a leading urban research university. He has overseen a substantial increase in campus enrollments. Under his leadership, Rutgers-Newark has built strong ties between the campus and the local community. He is deeply involved in the revitalization of downtown Newark, where the campus sits, and has overseen the doubling of the campus’s residential population.
Chancellor Diner has had a lifelong interest in cities, universities, and the connections between them, both past and present. After completing a Ph.D. in History at the University of Chicago, he began his teaching career at the University of the District of Columbia, where he taught in and chaired the Department of Urban Studies and was the founding director of the Center for Applied Research and Urban Policy. In 1985, he went to George Mason University, where he served as Vice Provost for Academic Programs, Associate Senior Vice President, and established the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, which undertakes interdisciplinary research in cognitive science.
Author
Richard Florida is author of the global best-seller The Rise of the Creative Class. His latest book, Who's Your City? also a national and international best seller, was an amazon.com book of the month.
Author
Heather McLeod Grant is a published author, speaker and consultant to high-impact organizations. She is the co-author of Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits (Wiley, 2008), which was named a Top Ten Book of 2007 by the Economist.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Collaborative Economics Advisors to Civic Entrepreneurs
Doug Henton has more than 30 years of experience in innovation and economic development at the national, regional, state, and local levels. Doug is nationally recognized for his work in bringing industry, government, education, research, and community leaders together around specific collaborative projects to improve regional competitiveness.
Mayor, Fresno
Elected Mayor of Fresno in 2008, Ashley Swearengin is a dynamic leader who focuses on building coalitions of experienced and capable experts to solve problems in honest and thoughtful ways. She has dedicated nearly her entire professional career to improving Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley.
2nd district, Pennsylvania
Congressman Chaka Fattah is completing his 16th year in the U. S. House of Representatives.
Chancellor, Rutgers University-Newark
Chancellor Steven J. Diner has headed Rutgers University-Newark since July 2002. He leads an institution of over 10,500 students, 500 full-time faculty and 1,100 full-time staff, with a budget of $130 million. Rutgers-Newark awards Ph.D, masters, baccalaureate and law degrees in colleges of arts and sciences, business, criminal justice, law, nursing and public affairs & administration. U.S. News and World Report has named it the most diverse national university in the United States for 11 consecutive years. Prior to assuming his current position, Dr. Diner served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science at Rutgers-Newark. He is also a Professor of History.