2018 - Speakers
These distinguished and provocative presenters, moderators, interviewers and debaters will participate in KentPresents 2018. Additional speakers will be added as they are confirmed. This speaker list is subject to change at any time.
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Kurt Andersen
Host of WNYC's Studio 360, author, Fantasyland
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Konstantin Batygin
Planetary astrophysicist, Caltech Professor
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Preet Bharara
Former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York
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Flora Biddle
Author, former President, Whitney Museum of American Art
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Victoria Blamey
Award Winning Chef
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Lisa Bloom
Civil Rights Attorney
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Charles Blow
Op-ed Columnist, New York Times, author of “Fire Shut Up in My Bones”
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Amb. Nicholas Burns
Former NATO Ambassador, Professor, Harvard Kennedy School
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Carol Burris
Executive Director, Network for Public Education Foundation
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Sean Carroll
Research Professor of Physics, Caltech Cosmologist
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Alta Charo
Professor of Law and Bioethics, University of Wisconsin
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Kristen Clarke
President, Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
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Jerry Coyne
Evolutionary Biologist, Professor Emeritus, University of Chicago
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Joseph DeSimone
CEO Carbon Inc., Professor of Chemistry, University of North Carolina
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Luis Diaz
Head, Division of Solid Tumor Oncology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
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Dan Doctoroff
Chairman and CEO, Sidewalk Labs
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Fiona Donovan
Teacher, writer, Board Member of the Whitney Museum of American Art
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John Donvan
Host of Intelligence Squared, ABC correspondent, author
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Elizabeth Economy
C. V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director for Asia Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
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Marjory Fisher
Title IX Coordinator, Columbia University
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Rana Foroohar
Global Economic Analyst
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Carter Foster
Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs, Blanton Museum of Art
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Jeffrey Fraenkel
Founder of the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco
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Julia Greer
Professor of Materials Science, Mechanics, and Medical Engineering at Caltech
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Douglas Harris
Professor of Economics, Tulane University
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Amb. Christopher Hill
Former Ambassador to Iraq, South Korea, Poland and Macedonia
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Margot Hirsch
President, Smart Tech Challenges Foundation
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Amb. Robert Hormats
Former Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment
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Samuel Issacharoff
Constitutional Law Professor, NYU School of Law
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Jeh Johnson
Former United States Secretary of Homeland Security
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Stefanie Joho
Oncology Research, Patient Advocate and Consultant
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Robert Jones
Exoneree, Innocence Project
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Henry Kissinger
Nobel Laureate, Former Secretary of State, Chairman of Kissinger Associates
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Michael Kramer
Playwright, political columnist, author
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Jay Kriegel
Senior Advisor, Related Companies
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Itamar Kubovy
Executive Producer, Pilobolus
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Corby Kummer
Senior editor of The Atlantic, restaurant critic, author
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Mitch Landrieu
Former Mayor of the City of New Orleans, Author
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Robert Lang
One of the world’s leading masters of origami
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Charles C. Mann
Author, correspondent for The Atlantic, Science and Wired
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Wynton Marsalis
World-renowned trumpeter, bandleader and composer
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Safwan Masri
EVP, Global Centers and Global Development at Columbia University
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Jessica Mathews
Former President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
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Harold McGee
Author, “On Food and Cooking”
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Roger McNamee
Social Media Activist, Investor
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Daniel Mendelsohn
Author and critic, The New York Review of Books & The New Yorker
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Wardell Milan
Visual Artist
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Nina Morrison
Senior Staff Attorney, Innocence Project
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Trevor Morrison
Dean of New York University School of Law
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Sarah Moser
Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, McGill
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Neha Narula
Director, Digital Currency Initiative, MIT Media Lab
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Cal Newport
Associate Professor of Computer Science, Georgetown
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Joe Nocera
Opinion Columnist, Bloomberg
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Robert Piconi
CEO, Energy Vault
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Pilobolus
Rebellious dance company
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Michael Pollan
Food activist, new psychedelics book, "How to Change Your Mind"
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Akshat Rathi
Journalist, specializing in science, energy and environment
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Mark Reuss
General Motors EVP, leads R&D and advanced vehicle technology
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Jerry Saltz
New York Magazine art critic
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David Sanger
National Security Correspondent, The New York Times
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Lesley Stahl
60 MINUTES, CBS News Correspondent
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Bret Stephens
Journalist, editor, and political commentator
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Kai Stinchcombe
Cofounder and CEO, True Link Financial
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Elisabeth Sussman
Curator of Photography, Whitney Museum of American Art
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William Taubman
Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, Amherst College
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Harold Varmus
Nobel Laureate, Former Director National Cancer Institute, Scientist
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Joel Viehland
Award Winning Chef
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Darren Walker
President, Ford Foundation
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Joe Walston
Vice President for Global Conservation, Wildlife Conservation Society
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Ken Washington
VP, Research and Advanced Engineering, CTO, Ford Motor Company
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Faye Wattleton
Former President, Planned Parenthood
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Mike Weisser
Firearms expert
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Amb. Frank Wisner
Career Ambassador, International Affairs Advisor
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Ekow Yankah
Professor of Law, Cardozo School of Law
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Robert Zimmer
President, The University of Chicago
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James Zirin
Host of "Conversations with Jim Zirin," prolific op-ed writer
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Caren Zucker
Journalist, ABC and PBS producer