The Philadelphia Speakers Series presents some of the world’s most celebrated and influential personalities of our time, a virtual Who’s Who of National and global figures - heads of state, political leaders, newsmakers, innovators and cultural icons, each sharing their unique experiences and perspectives as they challenge your mind, enlarge your world and make you laugh. These are our past speakers:
2021-2022
John Bolton
Platon
Walter Isaacson
Mara Liasson
Jamie Metzl
Theresa May
Bill Nye
2019–2020
John Kerry
Zanny Minton Beddoes
Bob Woodward
Douglas Brinkley
Peter Diamandis
Susan Rice
Jason Alexander
2018–2019
James Comey
Lisa Genova
Gloria Steinem
Jeb Bush
Bryan Stevenson
Ian Bremmer
Dave Barry
2017–2018
David Cameron
Jeffrey Toobin
Cokie Roberts
Robin Wright
Rick Steves
Newt Gingrich
Paul Nicklen
2016–2017
Jon Meacham
Ehud Barak
Rita Moreno
John Cleese
Martin Dempsey
Ted Koppel
Michele Norris, Jason Riley and Morris Dees
2015–2016
Leon Panetta
Sanjay Gupta
Michio Kaku
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Diana Nyad
Mark Kelly and Gabby Giffords
Dennis Ross
2014–2015
Alan Alda
Julia Gillard
Ken Burns
Olympia Snowe
David Gergen
David McCullough
Dan Rather
2013–2014
Bill Bryson
George Papandreou
Robert Gates
Steve Wozniak
Billy Collins
Jon Huntsman, Jr.
Doris Kearns Goodwin
2012–2013
President Bill Clinton
Jeannette Walls
Lisa Ling
P.W. Singer
Erskine Bowles
Vicente Fox
Nando Parrado
2011–2012
Ron Chernow
Michelle Rhee
Valerie Plame Wilson
and Joe Wilson
Michael Pollan
Azar Nafisi
Stanley McChrystal
Tom Brokaw
2010–2011
Thomas Friedman
Elizabeth Gilbert
Ben Carson
Charles Krauthammer
F.W. de Klerk
Mark Shields
Karl Rove and Howard Dean
2009–2010
Pervez Musharraf
Jean-Michel Cousteau
Laura Bush
Robert Reich
Mia Farrow
David Brooks
Greg Mortenson
2008–2009
Steve Forbes
Paul Rusesabagina
Garrison Keillor
Joseph Ellis
Anna Quindlen
Jane Goodall
Bob Woodward
2007–2008
Robert Ballard
George Will
Christiane Amanpour
Madeleine Albright
Salman Rushdie
Frank McCourt
The Capitol Steps
2006–2007
Amy Tan
James Lovell
Colin Powell
Paul Bremer
Michael Medved
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Beck Weathers
2005–2006
Elie Wiesel
Walter Cronkite
Bill Moyers
John Major
David McCullough
Mark Russell
Christine Todd Whitman
2004–2005
Henry Kissinger
James Carville
Mary Higgins Clark
Ehud Barak
Dave Barry
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Frank Abagnale
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