Education Speakers

Irina Bokova is the former Director-General of UNESCO (2009–2017), the first woman and first Eastern European to hold the post. She is a global expert on cultural heritage, global governance, and the role of education in sustainable development. Her leadership led to the UN Security Council recognizing the safeguarding of cultural heritage as a peace and security imperative. As a speaker, she provides critical insights on the challenges of global governance, women’s rights, and how to leverage soft power for sustainable, inclusive development in the 21st century.

Dr. Rajdeep Manwani is a National Award winner and an acclaimed professor and speaker. He has trained and mentored over 21,500 students and executives at companies like WIPRO and Britannia. A TEDx speaker and winner of the Distinguished Toastmaster award, his talks focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), offering practical strategies to face discrimination with confidence and courage. His work is a blueprint for organizational and societal change in the disability sector.

José Hernández is a former NASA astronaut and engineer who flew as the Flight Engineer on the 2009 STS-128 mission to the International Space Station. His inspiring life story from migrant farmworker to astronaut is the subject of the 2023 Amazon Prime biopic, A Million Miles Away. As a keynote speaker, Hernández shares his powerful message on perseverance, STEM education, and the power of achieving the impossible. His talks provide unique insights into aerospace consulting, technical due diligence, and the principles of leadership honed at NASA and LLNL.

Laurence Moroney is a leading AI expert, award-winning researcher, and bestselling author who formerly led AI Advocacy at Google. He is an authority on scaling education in Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Computer Vision. He designed a globally recognized AI certification curriculum and created content for MOOCs and the TensorFlow YouTube Channel (with hundreds of videos). His keynotes deliver inspiring, technical, and strategic insights on AI roadmaps and the need for racial and gender equity in technology development.

Dr. Pasi Sahlberg is a leading Finnish educator and global expert on educational reform. His book, Finnish Lessons, won the Grawemeyer Award for an idea that has the potential to change the world. As a former senior specialist at the World Bank and a former visiting professor at Harvard, he advises leaders globally on educational best practices. His keynotes share the core principles of the Finnish system, emphasizing trust in teachers and the critical role of play in helping children thrive.

Dr. Rajeev Gowda is a former MP, National Spokesperson for the Indian National Congress, and a Professor at IIM Bangalore. He holds a Ph.D. from the Wharton School and is an expert on electoral reform and governance. He led transformative civic engagement in Bangalore, earning the title of “Super Citizen” for mobilizing protests against moral policing and championing projects like the Namma Railu suburban rail service. His keynotes provide insights into public policy, economic growth, and the power of collaborative governance.

Anand Kumar is the founder of the revolutionary Super 30 programme, which provides free coaching to economically backward students for the IIT entrance exam. He is an award-winning Indian mathematician and teacher. By 2017, 396 of his 450 coached students had successfully entered the IITs, demonstrating the impact of his model. His keynotes, delivered at MIT and Harvard, focus on Social Entrepreneurship, Motivation, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion through the lens of educational empowerment.

Dr. Shelja Sen is a leading expert in child and adolescent mental health and the Co-founder of Children First. She is a TED speaker and the critically acclaimed author of books including All You Need is Love and Imagine. Her expertise is applied through Narrative Therapy and SFBT training, and her books focus on mindful parenting and the necessity of emotionally safe spaces for inclusive learning. Her talks, including a TED presentation, emphasize that such spaces are a prerequisite for children to grow, thrive, and flourish.

Tanmay Bakshi is an AI and software architect known for making machine learning accessible to builders, students and business audiences. He began coding at five, later became a young face in the IBM Watson ecosystem, and now speaks from the overlap of engineering, education and applied AI. He is also the author of four technology books, including Hello Swift!, Cognitive Computing with IBM Watson, Tanmay Teaches Julia for Beginners, and Tanmay Teaches Go. His talks focus on AI literacy, first-principles thinking and how organizations can use technology with more clarity and less hype.