Gen. Colin Powell, Monica Lewinsky, skateboarding giant Tony Hawk, and Marc Randolph, cofounder of Netflix, will be among the headliners at the eMerge Americas technology conference next year, the eMerge Americas team announced Wednesday night.
Registration for the conference April 18-19 also officially opened Wednesday night on emergeamericas.org. Last year, the two-day conference at the Miami Beach Convention Center and auxiliary events drew 10,000 attendees and 500 companies participating from 50 countries.
Powell, former U.S. secretary of state, will speak about how technology is disrupting the face of leadership, said Xavier Gonzalez, eMerge Americas’ executive director, and “if you’ve seen her TED talk, Monica Lewinsky has been focusing on her experience being patient zero of cyber-bullying.” Tony Hawk, well-known in the skateboarding world and ahead of his time in video gaming, will talk about building a business empire, very analogous to what Pitbull has been doing building an empire around his fame, said Gonzalez.
Also among the 21 speakers announced during eMerge’s annual kickoff party in Miami’s Design District were: motivational speaker, self-help author and entrepreneur Tim Storey; Scott Wise, an Andreessen Horowitz partner specializing in cyber-security; and Naveen Jain, co-founder and executive chairman of Moon Express, a Silicon Valley startup aiming to mine the moon. Other speakers hail from BBG Ventures, OfficeNet, GE Healthcare, Mozilla, Georgetown University and WeaRobot.
In addition to its expo hall and keynote addresses, eMerge Americas 2016 will bring back its Startup Showcase, featuring a pitch contest on stage and judged by investors, the WIT (Women, Innovation & Technology) summit focused on women-led innovation, and eGov, which brings together government leaders from around the world for a private summit. As in past years, events and parties will be added before and after the summit.
“The global tech community is growing fast, and our own rapid growth is testament to that. As the community continues to evolve, eMerge Americas will too, working to inspire and address the needs of this innovative community,” said eMerge founder Manuel D. Medina.
Nancy Dahlberg, @ndahlberg