Main Stage Speakers

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Will Packer

Producer Film & TV

jamie-dimon

Jamie Dimon

Chairman and CEO, JPMorganChase

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Fawn Weaver

Founder & CEO, Uncle Nearest

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Ed Gordon

Journalist

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Symone Sanders Townsend

Co-host of MSNBC’s The Weekend

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Carla Harris

Senior Client Advisor, Morgan Stanley

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Stacey Abrams

Former Georgia House Minority Leader

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Marcus Scribner

Actor, Voice Actor

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Soledad O’Brien

Award-Winning Journalist, Documentarian, and CEO, Soledad O'Brien Productions

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Dr. Marc Lamont Hill

Abolitionist, Anthroplogist, and Author

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Will Packer

Producer Film & TV

Will Packer, Founder and CEO of Will Packer Productions, has produced or executive produced a wide range of movies that have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, including “Girls Trip”, “Night School”, “Ride Along,” “Think Like a Man,” and “Straight Outta Compton.” Packer’s television, digital, and branded content company, Will Packer Media, produces episodic scripted and unscripted series across television, podcasts and digital platforms and compelling content for brand clients and short-form digital content. Next up, Will Packer Media is producing the highly anticipated limited series, “Fight Night”, for Peacock. The series is based on the Packer-produced podcast of the same name. He produced the 2022 Academy Awards. Packer serves on the board of the Atlanta Hawks Foundation, is a longtime supporter of HBCU initiatives, and a magna cum laude graduate of Florida A&M University (FAMU).

Jamie Dimon

Chairman and CEO, JPMorganChase

Jamie Dimon is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., a global financial services firm with assets of $4.1 trillion and operations worldwide. The firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers, small business, commercial banking, financial transaction processing and asset management.

Dimon became CEO on January 1, 2006 and one year later also became Chairman of the Board. He was named President and Chief Operating Officer upon the company’s merger with Bank One Corporation on July 1, 2004. Dimon joined Bank One as Chairman and CEO in 2000.

Dimon earned his bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. He serves on the boards of directors of a number of non-profit institutions including the Business Roundtable, Bank Policy Institute and Harvard Business School.

Fawn Weaver

Founder & CEO, Grant Sydney, Inc. (owner, Uncle Nearest) |
Endeavor Board Member | YPO Member | New York Times
Bestselling Author | USA Today Bestselling Author | TED Speaker |Doting Wife of Keith Weaver (Since 2003)

Fawn Weaver, an entrepreneurial powerhouse, is the visionary CEO and founder of Grant Sidney, Inc. She’s a New York Times bestselling author and sought-after guest on prominent global shows, including FOX Business, CNBC, Good Morning America, and CBS This Morning. She is a regular contributor for Inc. Magazine and has been featured in hundreds of publications. Founding and propelling the success of Uncle Nearest, Inc, the fastest-growing American whiskey in history, has earned over 850 awards and is the top-selling African American-founded spirit of all time.

Beyond business, her legacy radiates through the Nearest Green Foundation, a nonprofit focusing on African American heritage and community upliftment. Weaver’s education, including an undergraduate degree from the University of Alabama, and her Corporate Director certification from Harvard Business School, underscore her multifaceted expertise.

Weaver’s journey, marked by milestones, continues to redefine success, uplift communities, and shape industries for a brighter future.

Ed Gordon

Journalist

Hard-hitting, inspiring, intelligent, honest, and direct—these are some of the words used to describe the style and approach of Emmy Award-winning broadcaster Ed Gordon. Known for his stellar interactions with newsmakers from the worlds of politics, entertainment, and sports; the veteran journalist is the president of Ed Gordon Media, a multi-service production company.

Gordon is a special correspondent for the BET/CBS News program, America in Black. In 2020, Gordon authored his first book, Conversations in Black. In the best-selling book, Gordon interviewed over 40 leaders and influencers for a “virtual” conversation about the state of Black America.

He also hosts the nationally syndicated radio program, Weekend with Ed Gordon

Symone Sanders Townsend

Co-host of MSNBC’s The Weekend

Symone Sanders Townsend is an author and seasoned political strategist.

Sanders Townsend rose to prominence in 2016 as the national press secretary for U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’s then-presidential campaign. At 25, she became the youngest presidential press secretary on record and was named to Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of 16 young Americans shaping the 2016 election. At 29, she published her first book, No, You Shut Up: Speaking Truth to Power and Reclaiming America and served as a senior advisor for President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. At 31, Sanders Townsend was appointed as a senior member of the Biden-Harris administration serving as Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor and Chief Spokesperson to Vice President Kamala Harris.

A communicator with a passion for problem solving and social justice, Sanders Townsend served as the national chair of the Coalition of Juvenile Justice Emerging Leaders Committee and a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice before joining Senator Sanders’s campaign. There, she worked to raise the profile of young voices in the fight for juvenile justice reform and brought millennial perspectives to policy conversations. Prior to joining the Biden-Harris administration, Sanders Townsend was principal of the 360 Group where she helped clients find sound solutions to tough political and social problems.

Sanders Townsend is a former political commentator for CNN and resident fellow of both Harvard’s Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School and the University of Southern California’s Center for the Political Future.

She is a native of North Omaha, Nebraska and currently resides in Washington D.C. with her husband, Shawn.

Carla Harris

Senior Client Advisor, Morgan Stanley

Carla is a Wall Street veteran, with over 35 years experience, now serving as Senior Client Advisor at Morgan Stanley having finished active tour of duty as Vice Chairman.

She was appointed by President Barak Obama in 2013 to Chair the National Womens’ Business Council.

She is an award winning podcaster with 12 Marcon Awards, 2 Webby Awards, and 2 Anthem Awards under her built for the podcast Access and Opportunity.

She is an acclaimed motivational speaker having been named a couple of weeks ago as one of the top 50 speakers in the World by Real Leaders and one of the Top 40 female speakers in the World in 2020.

Gospel recording artist w/4 commercially released CDs, 5 sold out concerts at Carnegie Hall and 2 at the Apollo Theatre;

She is an author of 3 books.

Graduate, Harvard Business School, 2nd Year Honors, Harvard University, Magna Cum Laude;

Stacey Abrams

Former Georgia House Minority Leader

Political leader, business owner, and bestselling author Stacey Abrams is heralded for her candid insights on politics, leadership, entrepreneurship, social justice, and being a true force for change.

A tax attorney by training, Abrams served eleven years in the Georgia House of Representatives, seven as Minority Leader, and became the Democratic nominee for governor in 2018 and 2022. She has launched multiple nonprofit organizations devoted to democracy protection, national and local voter engagement, tackling social issues, and building a more equitable future in the South.

Marcus Scribner

Actor, voice actor

Marcus is most notable for playing Anthony Anderson’s son ‘Andre Jr.’ on BLACK-ish. Marcus earned the NAACP IMAGE AWARD for the series. Marcus carried on his role of ‘Andre Jr.’ in the Freeform spino` of the series, GROWN-ISH. He can currently be seen leading the 6th and final season.

Currently, Marcus can be seen in the Daniel Goldhaber directed feature HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE alongside Lukas Gage. Distributed by Neon, and initially debuted at TIFF 2022, it received raving reviews once o`icially released to theaters, including a 95% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Marcus is also featured in Netflix’s ALONG FOR THE RIDE, written by Sofia Alvarez, alongside Kate Bosworth and Emma Pasarow. In 2021, 2 of 2 Marcus wrapped filming on the set of the independent drama feature HOW I LEARNED TO FLY, directed by auteur Simon Steuri opposite Lonnie Chavis, Cedric the Entertainer and Cli` ‘Method Man’ Smith.

Soledad O'Brien

Award-Winning Journalist, Documentarian, and CEO, Soledad O’Brien Productions

Soledad O’Brien is an award-winning documentarian, journalist, speaker, author, and philanthropist, and founder of Soledad O’Brien Productions, a media production company dedicated to telling empowering and authentic stories on a range of social issues. She anchors and produces “Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien,” a Hearst political magazine program seen in 95% of the country. She was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of fame in May 2023.

O’Brien’s work has been recognized with four Emmy awards, three times with the George Foster Peabody Award, four times with the Gracie Award, which honors women in media, twice with Cine Awards for her work in documentary films and with an Alfred I. DuPont Award.

She founded the PowHerful foundation in 2011 which has helped dozens of young women get to and through college and connects with thousands of others through regional mentoring conferences.

Dr. Marc Lamont Hill

Abolitionist, Anthroplogist, and Author

He is currently the host of BET News and the Coffee & Books podcast. An award-winning journalist, Dr. Hill has received numerous prestigious awards from the National Association of Black Journalists, GLAAD, and the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Hill is the Steve Charles Professor of Media, Cities, and Solutions at Temple University. Prior to that, he held positions at Columbia University and Morehouse College.

Since his days as a youth in Philadelphia, Dr. Hill has been a social justice activist and organizer. He has worked on campaigns to end the death penalty, abolish prisons, and release numerous political prisoners. Dr. Hill has also worked in solidarity with human rights movements around the world. He is the founder and director of The People’s Education Center in Philadelphia, as well as the owner of Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books.

Ebony Magazine has named him one of America’s 100 most influential Black leaders. Dr. Hill is the author or co-author of six books: the award-winning Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life: Hip-Hop Pedagogy and the Politics of Identity; The Classroom and the Cell: Conversations on Black life in America; Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on The Vulnerable from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond; Gentrifier; We Still Here: Pandemic, Policing, Protest, and Possibility; and Except For Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics. He has also published two edited books: Media, Learning, and Sites of Possibility; and Schooling Hip-Hop: New Directions in Hip-Hop Based Education.

Dr. Hill holds a Ph.D. (with distinction) from the University of Pennsylvania. His research agenda focuses on the intersections between culture, politics, and education in the United States and the Middle East.