In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Lake Tahoe Community College
1 College Drive
South Lake Tahoe, California, 96150
United States

Adrian Ballinger

Mountain Guide, Everest Summiter, Alpinist and Professional Athelete

Adrian Ballinger is a world class mountaineer, skier, and business leader. As founder and head guide of the internationally acclaimed Alpenglow Expeditions, Adrian envisioned a more holistic climbing experience for his clients than the status quo. This vision, with a focus on small groups and client education, continues to change the way big mountains are climbed. What started in 2004 with three trips on one continent with one lead guide has grown into a thriving company running 30 trips annually on 5 continents with six lead guides. In 10 years, Alpenglow has helped more than 100 clients successfully summit Everest, Lhotse (the 4th tallest mountain in the world), Manaslu (8th tallest), and Cho Oyu (6th tallest). As a professional athlete first and foremost, Adrian is the only American who has skied two 8,000 meter peaks, was the first person to ski Manaslu, the 8th tallest mountain in the world, and in 2011 became the first person to summit three 8,000 meter peaks in only 3 weeks.

Amy Wilkinson

Entrepreneurship

Amy Wilkinson is CEO and founder of Ingenuity, Lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business and author of The Creator’s Code: The Six Essential Skills of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs. She advises executives and emerging leaders around the world on how to master the skills that underlie entrepreneurial success. Wilkinson’s career spans leadership roles at McKinsey & Company, J.P. Morgan and as founder of Alegre, a foreign-based export company. She has also served in the White House as a senior policy advisor to the United States Trade Representative and a White House Fellow. Fascinated by how leaders must reinvent their approaches to excel in an entrepreneurial age, Wilkinson interviewed 200 of today’s top entrepreneurs including the founders of Airbnb, LinkedIn, eBay, PayPal, Yelp, Dropbox, Tesla Motors, SpaceX, Chipotle, Under Armour, Spanx, Jetblue, and Revolution Foods to distill what it takes to go from start-up to scale in our rapidly changing economy. She conducted this work

Barbara Annis

CEO

Barbara Annis, Founding Partner of Gender Intelligence Group (GIG), is a world-renowned expert on Inclusive Leadership through Gender & Cultural Intelligence, advocating the value and practice of this new type of leadership in Fortune 500 companies and numerous organizations worldwide. Her insights and achievements have pioneered a transformational shift in cultural attitudes across the globe on the importance of gender unity to organizational success. Barbara began her career as the first women in sales at Sony and became the first woman Sales Manager with 14 Outstanding Sales Achievement Awards and Sony’s MVP Award. Over the past 27 years, Barbara Annis and her 51 global associates have facilitated over 8,000 corporate workshops and conducted thousands of leadership assessments and executive coaching sessions. GIG has introduced breakthrough research on the practice and benefits of inclusive leadership and gender diversity. Additionally, GIG offers diagnostics, workshops, and coac

Dewitt Jones

Photographer and public speaker

Dewitt Jones is one of America’s top professional photographers. 20 years with National Geographic, 10 years creating national advertising campaigns, 2 documentary films nominated for Academy Awards. 20 years speaking to audiences around the world on vision, possibility and celebration.

Golbie Kamarei

Meditation and purpose

Golbie’s mission is to help multinational organizations and their employees reach higher levels of performance and purpose through the systematic integration of personal development and wellbeing practices. During her eight-year tenure at BlackRock ($5.7 trillion in assets under management), Golbie held several roles in both investment and organizational development capacities including Founding Member, Knowledge Strategist, and Business Manager of the BlackRock Investment Institute. She also held leadership roles in several global human capital initiatives such as the Investment Excellence Program and the Investment Research Development Program and served as Vice Chair for BlackRock's Women's Initiative and BlackRock's People and Culture Committee in the NY headquarters.

James Cross

Head of Strategy at Workday

James has spent a decade at the intersection of people and technology — and is is passionate about how new technologies that help people to learn, grow, and fulfill their potential. James is a former high school teacher, was a leader at a successful video learning startup, and is currently Director of Strategy at Workday.

Nick Exline

Land Planning Consultant

Nick Exline is the Chairman of the South Tahoe 100% Renewable Committee, founder of the Lake Tahoe Climate Change Network and Senior, AICP Land Use Planning Consultant for Midkiff and Associates. Nick’s interest in sustainability and renewable energy led him to receive his Master’s Degree in Land Use Planning Policy from the University of Nevada and his recent work with the City of South Lake Tahoe (and other communities) to transition to 100% renewable energy to fight climate change. Nick’s passion for travel and adventure sports led him to explore the world, seeing the impacts of climate change firsthand, and to work tirelessly to ensure that future generations will be able to enjoy all the adventure opportunities that exist in the world

Paul Shapiro

Author and Head of Policy for Humane Society of the United States

Paul Shapiro serves as the vice president of policy for The Humane Society of the United States, the world’s largest animal protection organization. In 1995, Shapiro founded Compassion Over Killing as a high school club, building it into a national organization over the next decade. An inductee into the Animal Rights Hall of Fame, Shapiro has published dozens of articles about animal welfare in publications ranging from daily newspapers to academic journals. He’s also the author of a forthcoming book on the clean meat movement (Simon & Schuster’s Gallery Books).

Stew Bittman

Philosopher, speaker and chiropractor

An internationally acclaimed speaker and teacher, Dr. Stew Bittman has lived in Lake Tahoe for over 25 years. It is here that he has slowly recovered from his over-educated, uneventful mid-baby boom New York City upbringing and lives the life he always dreamed about. He has a deep love for the land, discovering God in the many flowering meadows and sun-kissed mountain lakes

Terry Jones

Disruption - Business and Technology

Best known for founding Travelocity.com and serving as founding Chairman of Kayak.com, Terry Jones has become a powerful voice in the world of entrepreneurship through his numerous speaking engagements and the publication of his book, ON Innovation. His career path has established him as a thought leader on innovation in our increasingly digital world. A graduate of Denison University in Granville, Ohio, Jones, began his career as a travel agent, spent 24 years at American Airlines in marketing and information technology, capping his career as Chief Information Officer of its SABRE division. While at SABRE he led a team of six working on a project that became Travelocity.com. Jones served as CEO of Travelocity for seven years transforming it to a public company with three billion dollars in travel sales. He left Travelocity when the company was taken private and became part of the founding team at Kayak.com, a company that yet again revolutionized how travel was purchased. He serv