Josh Bernoff

Author of Writing Without Bullshit: Boost Your Career by Saying What You Mean 
Co-Author of Groundswell, Empowered, The Mobile Mind Shift 
Former SVP Forrester Research

Josh Bernoff is the author of Writing Without Bullshit: Boost Your Career by Saying What You Mean, which the Globe and Mail called “a Strunk and White for the modern knowledge worker”. His daily blog posts on writing and corporate life at without bullshit.com have attracted 1.5 million views

Josh is the coauthor of three business strategy books including the social media bestseller Groundswell. He was formerly an analyst and SVP at Forrester Research.

Deb Gabor

Founder and CEO of Sol Marketing,
Author of Branding is Sex: Get Your Customer Laid and Sell the Hell Out of Anything

Deb Gabor was born to brand. Deb is a brand dominatrix and investor pitch whisperer with legendarily bad travel karma. In her capacity as Sol’s strategic and spiritual leader, Deb has led research engagements and brand strategy development for organizations ranging from international household names like Dell, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft and NBC Universal, to digital winners like Allrecipes, Cheezburger and Rentpath, to well-loved Austin icons like Austin Ventures, KUT/KUTX, ZACH Theatre, HomeAway, RetailMeNot, The University of Texas at Austin and St. Edward’s University. Deb is author of the bestselling book, Branding is Sex. Get Your Customer Laid and Sell the Hell Out of Anything.

Before starting Sol Marketing in 2003, Deb was Senior Vice President at Citigate Cunningham, a strategic communication firm serving technology digital media and financial brands around the world. Prior to that, Deb was the managing director of brand research and strategy at IntelliQuest. Before crossing the chasm to agency work, Deb worked in house as a brand manager and marketing manager at several high tech companies in the Chicago area. Deb is a proud member of the Austin chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization and serves on the board as Learning Chair. Additionally, she has served on the board of directors of the Jewish Community Association of Austin and Austin Children’s Theatre, and on the ZACHTheater board’s marketing committee.

Bob Glazer

Founder & CEO Acceleration Partners,
Author of Performance Partnerships: The Checkered Past, Changing Present and Exciting Future of Affiliate Marketing

Robert Glazer is the founder and Managing Director of Acceleration Partners, and the founder and Chairman of BrandCycle. He is a serial entrepreneur with an exceptional track record and passion for growing revenue and profits for B2C-based companies. In demand by top brands and investment firms, he has extensive experience in the consumer, e-commerce, retail, online marketing, and ad-tech industries — partnering with brands such as adidas, ModCloth, Reebok, Target, Tiny Prints, Gymboree, and Warby Parker.

Glazer is a regular contributor to Entrepreneur, Inc, and Success Magazine, writing about performance marketing, strategy, and culture. He is the recipient of the Boston Business Journal “40 under 40” award, the SmartCEO Boston Future 50 award, and Acceleration Partners has won numerous awards for excellence in culture, including Great Place to Work and Fortune Best Workplace awards in the Flexibility and Advertising & Marketing categories.

Gregg Thompson

President of Bluepoint Leadership Development,
Author of THE MASTER COACH: Leading with Character, Building Connections, and Engaging in Extraordinary Conversations

Gregg Thompson is President of Bluepoint Leadership Development, recognized as one of the finest providers of coach training programs in the world. Having coached many of the most senior leaders in Fortune 100 companies and trained thousands of coaches, Thompson is an in-demand speaker and facilitator, and has a broad-reaching background in leadership development. Most recently, he is the author of THE MASTER COACH: Leading with Character, Building Connections, and Engaging in Extraordinary Conversations (SelectBooks, Inc.; 2017). He is also the author of Unleashed! (Select Books, 2006), upon which he has designed several award winning leadership development workshops including The Coaching Essentials, Leader as Coach, Advanced Coaching Skills and Powerful Coaching Conversations.

Ryan Holiday

Media Strategist
Author of The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living, 
The Obstacle Is the Way, Ego Is the Enemy

RYAN HOLIDAY is a strategist and writer. He dropped out of college at nineteen to apprentice under Robert Greene, author of The 48 Laws of Power, and later served as the director of marketing for American Apparel. His company, Brass Check, has advised clients like Google, TASER, and Complex, as well as many prominent bestselling authors. Holiday has written four previous books, most recently The Obstacle Is the Way, which has been translated into seventeen languages and has a cult following among NFL coaches, world-class athletes, TV personalities, political leaders, and others around the world. He lives on a small ranch outside Austin, Texas.

President and CEO of The Hammer & Nails Salon Group,
Award Winning Hollywood Screenwriter.

As a former homeless, high school dropout in Philadelphia, then 18-year old Michael Elliot should have been just another statistical failure. But today, through faith, determination and hard work, Michael – now 50 – is the President and CEO of The Hammer & Nails Salon Group, and the founder and owner of the first Hammer & Nails | Grooming Shop for Guys in Los Angeles on iconic Melrose Avenue. He launched Hammer & Nails in 2013 after discovering an unmet need for a business that provided hand and foot grooming in a male-centric environment. He recognized the shift in attitude regarding male hygiene and self-care, and took action.

In 2016, Michael’s company sold nearly 200 franchise licenses in their first year of franchising, setting the stage for Hammer & Nails to be the next great national men’s grooming brand. New Hammer & Nails | Grooming Shop for Guys franchise locations will open in at least four states this year.

Michael is also an award-winning Hollywood screenwriter. Michael’s films, which include the kids movie “Like Mike” (2002), the romantic comedy “Brown Sugar” (2002) and the Queen Latifah – starrer “Just Wright” (2010) have generated over $115 million in box office revenue. In 2011, Michael was presented the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture. Currently, Michael is writing and executive producing a television series for 20th Century Fox Television, while growing the Hammer & Nails brand.

When not disrupting the men’s grooming industry or writing movies, Elliot enjoys marriage, watching HGTV and fatherhood. Michael is the proud of father of a son (Idris, 14) and a daughter (Essence, 28), and he’s the devoted husband of Mecca Elliot.

Sam Zell

Founder, Chairman, Equity Group Investments,
Author of Am I Being Too Subtle?

Sam Zell is a global, opportunistic, often contrarian, investor. He specializes in identifying market anomalies and emerging trends, and has a long track record in turning around troubled companies and assets, leading industry consolidations, and bringing companies to the public markets. The majority of his investment portfolio is in energy, logistics, transportation, manufacturing, communications and healthcare, but he is often best known for his pioneering role and stewardship in creating the modern commercial real estate industry.

Sam is the Chairman of Equity Group Investments, the private investment firm he founded more than 45 years ago. He also chairs five companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange: Equity Residential, the largest apartment REIT in the country; Equity LifeStyle Properties, a manufactured home community and resort REIT; Equity Commonwealth, an office REIT; Covanta Holding Corporation, an international owner/operator of energy-from-waste and power generation facilities; and Anixter International Inc., a leading global provider of communications, security, and wire and cable products.

Sam also founded and chaired Equity Office Properties Trust, the largest office REIT until its 2007 sale for $39 billion in the largest leveraged buyout at the time. In addition, he introduced the first Brazilian and Mexican real estate companies, respectively, to the New York Stock Exchange through Equity International, a second private investment firm he founded to focus on real estate-related businesses in emerging markets.

Sam is an active philanthropist with a focus on entrepreneurial education. Through the Zell Family Foundation, he has led the sponsorship of several leading entrepreneurship programs, including: the Zell/Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business; the Zell Fellows Program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management; and the Zell Entrepreneurship Center at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC). The Zell Global Entrepreneur Network (ZGEN) unites the students and alumni of these programs and actively provides them with connections, opportunities, mentorship and support. Sam also sponsors the Samuel Zell/Robert Lurie Real Estate Center at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Real Estate Center. He holds a JD degree and a BA from the University of Michigan.