Leaders and innovators from around the globe return to Aspen, CO, to explore bold ideas & engage in deep discussion of the issues shaping our world
Festival marks the first year of a multi-year, multi-platform partnership and programming collaboration with NBCU News Group
Contact: Jon Purves
Associate Director, Media Relations
The Aspen Institute
jon.purves@aspeninstitute.org
Washington, DC and Aspen, CO, May 5, 2022 — The Aspen Institute has announced the first group of speakers participating in the 2022 Aspen Ideas Festival. The Aspen Institute’s flagship summer festival returns this summer as a full scale, in-person event in Aspen, Colorado, delivered in partnership with NBCUniversal News Group. The Aspen Ideas Festival runs from June 25-July 1, 2022.
Speakers will continue to be announced in the coming weeks. More than 300 are ultimately set to attend, including leaders and innovators spanning policymaking, business, the arts, science, education, and more. A complete list of speakers confirmed to date is available here. Among the speakers attending:
- Jessica Alba, Actress and Founder, The Honest Company
- Marin Alsop, Chief Conductor, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra; Harman/Eisner Artist in Residence, The Aspen Institute
- William Baude, Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Constitutional Law Institute, University of Chicago Law School
- Selma Blair, Actress; Author, Mean Baby
- Brian Brooks, CEO, Bit Fury
- Stewart Butterfield, Co-Founder and CEO, Slack
- Anjan Chatterjee, Chair of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania
- Eva Chen, Vice President of Fashion & Shopping Partnerships, Instagram
- Jane Coaston, Host, The Argument, New York Times
- Pat Gelsinger, CEO, Intel
- Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
- Michael Green, Architect
- Alex Karp, Co-Founder, CEO, Palantir
- Manjusha Kulkarni, Executive Director, AAPI Equity Alliance; Co-Founder, Stop AAPI Hate
- Sarah Lewis, Assistant Professor, History of Art and Architecture and African and African American Studies, Harvard University; Founder, The Vision & Justice Project
- Pico Iyer, Author, essayist
- Cynthia Lummis, Senator (R-WY)
- Frank Luntz, American Political Consultant
- Carmen Maria Machado, author, In the Dream House and Her Body and Other Parties
- Melissa Murray, Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law at NYU School of Law
- Noah Oppenheim, President, NBC News
- Eboo Patel, Founder & President, Interfaith America
- Jared Polis, Governor, State of Colorado
- Senator Robert Portman, R, Ohio
- Paulina Porizkova, former supermodel, writer, actor
- Charles Scharf, CEO, Wells Fargo
- Vlad Tenev, CEO, Robinhood
- Kristine Tompkins, Founder, Tompkins Conservation; Former CEO of Patagonia
- Whitney Wolfe Herd, Founder, CEO, Bumble
The Aspen Ideas Festival is built around six substantive core themes: Heat, Power, Connection, Trust, Money, and Beauty. This year, more programming will take place in open-air tents and venues that bring in the Rocky Mountain scenery.
Last year, the festival and NBCU News Group announced a multi-year, multi-platform partnership that includes an editorial and programming collaboration to jointly create engaging and informative festival content and even further extend the reach of the festival’s on-the-ground events, partners and sponsors to audiences across NBCU News Group’s wide-reaching broadcast, cable, digital, audio and streaming platforms.
Top anchors and journalists from NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC and Noticias Telemundo participating in the festival this year include Kristin Welker, Co-Anchor, “Weekend Today” and NBC News Chief White House Correspondent; Andrew Ross Sorkin, Co-Anchor, “Squawk Box;” Jenna Bush Hager, co-anchor, “The Today Show,” CNBC; Sara Eisen, Anchor, “Closing Bell,” CNBC; Julia Boorstin, Senior Media & Tech Correspondent, CNBC; and Jacob Soboroff, NBC News and MSNBC Correspondent.
Joining headline speakers and participating in the Aspen Ideas Festival will be fellows from all over the United States and around the world, selected for their work, accomplishments, and ability to transform ideas into action.
A limited number of press passes are available for media interested in attending the Aspen Ideas Festival as covering reporters. To apply, please fill out the form here. Aspen Ideas Festival can accommodate both print and broadcast media; and staff can assist in facilitating interviews on-site.
Presenting Underwriters for the Aspen Ideas Festival are Allstate, Comcast NBCUniversal, the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, Meta, Mount Sinai Health System, PayPal, Prudential Financial, Inc, Walton Family Foundation, and Wells Fargo. Supporting Underwriters are EY-Parthenon, Google.org, IBM, Skoll Foundation and YouTube. Contributing Underwriters are Guild Education, PBS, National Geographic Society and TPG / Rise Fund.
The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most important challenges facing the United States and the world. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Institute has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, and an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.
About NBCUniversal News Group: More Americans watch NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC than any news organization in the world. NBC News’ leading and award-winning television news broadcasts include TODAY, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Meet the Press with Chuck Todd and Dateline NBC. MSNBC is the #2 network across all of cable and the premiere destination for breaking news, award-winning content, in-depth analysis and informed perspectives. CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage, business and general news content, and primetime reality programming, consumed by more than 557 million people per month across all platforms. The rapidly-growing NBC News Digital Group – including its streaming news services NBC News NOW and TODAY All Day – and the network’s award-winning original podcast and audio unit provide continuous content to consumers wherever they are, whenever they want it.
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