Latest Interviews
Showing 1216–1230 of 1,418 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Milken Institute1h 0m
Inequality and Mobility in America
Jared Bernstein, Edward Conard, Robert Doerr, Chrystia Freeland
Distinguished economists Jared Bernstein, Edward Conard, and Chrystia Freeland debated the primary drivers of rising U.S. income inequality, with Bernstein attributing it to structural policy failures and financialization while Conard cites global talent shortages and labor supply shifts. The panel further contested empirical data regarding stagnant wages and mobility rates, with Freeland emphasizing the political risks of extreme disparity and Robert Doerr highlighting family structure as a key poverty determinant. To address these challenges, the group proposed divergent solutions ranging from Conard's trade deficit reduction and immigration reforms to Bernstein's full-employment agenda and Freeland's call for inclusive capitalism and universal social safety nets.
- Milken Institute59 min
Four Ways Stem Cells Will Change the Face of Medicine
John Thomas, Eugene Brandon, Paula Cannon, Jill Helms, Alison Watry
Established in 2010 via Proposition 71, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has allocated over $2.2 billion to fund 65 entities, effectively bridging the "Valley of Death" between speculative research and commercial viability for incurable diseases. Recent breakthroughs include Dr. Eugene Brandon's encapsulated stem cell therapy for Type 1 diabetes, Dr. Paula Cannon's HIV-editing gene therapy trials, and Dr. Jill Helms's bone regeneration protocols using Wnt3a protein. Despite surging public support and promising clinical timelines for 2020 and beyond, the initiative faces a critical sustainability challenge as its $3 billion fund approaches depletion within three years while the NIH withdraws early-stage regenerative support.
- Milken Institute1h 2m
Investing in Students
Sean Green, Mike Cagney, Dave Girard, Bob Whelan, David Bergeron, Bill Bennett, Tony Miller
Addressing the $1.3 trillion U.S. student loan crisis, panelists including David Bergeron and industry leaders from SoFi and Upstart proposed shifting from traditional lending to investment-based models like Income Share Agreements and equity financing. These alternative structures aim to align educational costs with future earnings and force institutions to accept financial consequences for poor student outcomes, thereby challenging the cultural resistance to viewing higher education as a quantifiable investment. While innovative platforms have demonstrated low default rates through community accountability and flexible repayment terms, the discussion concluded that widespread adoption remains hindered by federal regulatory ambiguity and institutional reluctance to forfeit guaranteed federal protections.
- Milken Institute1h 1m
Food Security: How to Feed an Ever-Hungrier World
Glenn Yeager, Ken Quinn, Akinwumi Adesina, Claudia Garcia, Doron Gow, Mark Kahn, Mike Vellings
Organized by the Milken Institute and the World Food Prize, this high-level panel convened global leaders to strategize on feeding 9 billion people by 2050 through policy shifts, technological innovation, and private capital deployment. Key presentations detailed Nigeria's success in attracting $4 billion in private investment, highlighted the resource efficiency of aquaculture and genetic advancements like non-GMO polyploidy, and emphasized the critical role of venture capital in scaling ag-tech solutions. Ultimately, the discourse underscored the necessity of integrating digital interventions, infrastructure improvements, and nutritional science to overcome climate volatility and bridge the gap between current production and future global demand.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
China in Transition: Still a Land of Opportunity?
Henry Paulson, Cheryl Wu Dunn, Bob Iger
A high-level panel convened by Disney and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson analyzed China's critical transition from an export-driven economy to one reliant on domestic consumption and market forces. While Disney announced a $5.5 billion expansion of its Shanghai resort to capitalize on a growing middle class, experts warned that unresolved issues like environmental degradation, local government debt, and political control pose significant risks to long-term stability. The discussion concluded that accelerating financial reforms and international integration through trade agreements like the TPP are essential to prevent an unsustainable future despite China's current economic resilience.
- Milken Institute59 min
Disruptors
Kimball Musk, Will.i.am, Ryan Cavanaugh, Abe Byrds, Nancy Liu
A diverse panel of industry disruptors including Ryan Cavanaugh, Will.i.am, Kimball Musk, Nancy Liu, and Abe Byrds outlined strategies for dismantling antiquated business models across media, entertainment, education, and biotech through radical operational simplification and direct community engagement. These leaders advocate for bypassing traditional gatekeepers to build anti-fragile organizations that prioritize tangible user value and data ownership, predicting a future where legacy firms face a median lifespan of just nine years compared to the thirty-five years of the past. The consensus emphasizes that sustainable innovation requires a fusion of technical and creative talent to solve critical societal challenges in sectors ranging from vaccine logistics to cannabis markets while resisting the traps of hype-driven valuation.
- Milken Institute56 min
Repairing Finance and Restoring Growth in Europe
Howard Schneidermann, Christine Van Den Buckel, Christian Hangenmeier, Keith Savard, Michael Tenenbaum
A comprehensive assessment identifies structural stagnation in France and Italy, banking-sector bottlenecks for SMEs, and a funding gap in Germany as critical threats to the European economy amid rising euro-skepticism and a protracted Ukraine conflict. While the European Central Bank hesitates to aggressively cut rates or engage in quantitative easing due to domestic political constraints, speakers advocate for urgent public-sector downsizing, tax compliance reforms, and the revival of securitization markets to stimulate growth. The discussion concludes that without external leverage to compel structural changes in core economies or a controlled banking union, the stability of the EU project faces increasing pressure from internal fractures and divergent policy paths.
- Milken Institute1h 9m
Investing for Impact: What's in Your Portfolio?
Matthew Bishop, Michael Schlein, Tracy, David Kwong, Robb Boydston, John Hempton, Alex Friedman, Sean Green
A high-level panel of industry leaders, including Jean Case and Michael Schlein, convened to define impact investing as a scalable economic driver capable of delivering market-rate returns while solving systemic social problems like poverty and recidivism. The discussion highlighted the rapid evolution of financial instruments such as Social Impact Bonds and microfinance, citing successful pilots like the New York reentry program and the Husk Power Systems project in India as proof that private capital can effectively absorb risk to generate public good. With support from the G8 Task Force and major financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, the sector is poised for a tipping point where standardized measurement and policy reforms will integrate social solutions into mainstream capital markets.
- Milken Institute1h 1m
YesWeCode: Training NextGen Technologists
Van Jones, Laura Weidman Powers, Trabian Shorters, Mitch Kapoor, Joey Ito, Chris Tucker, Prince, Amy Henderson, David Robertson, Pamela Hodges, Jamie
A skills mismatch has created a paradox where the tech sector faces a shortage of qualified workers while low-opportunity communities remain excluded despite possessing significant untapped talent. To address this, the "Yes We Code" initiative is aggregating existing community programs to unify training pipelines and connect diverse candidates with major tech employers, a strategy endorsed by figures like Van Jones and Prince. The program aims to launch a coordinated campaign on July 4th to bridge the gap between competency-based education and hiring practices, leveraging support from organizations like Ford Foundation and Facebook to diversify the workforce and alleviate poverty.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Speed to Market: The Evolution of Trading
Chris Brummer, Seth Marin, Jamil Nazarali, Joe Ratterman, Fred Tomczyk, Greg Toussart, Adni DePaulo
A panel of industry leaders debated the dual impact of high-frequency trading, highlighting record-low commissions and faster execution for retail investors against the significant execution challenges and information leakage faced by institutional buyers. While participants agreed that automation and regulatory measures like Limit Up/Limit Down have improved market efficiency, they disagreed on whether the current "arms race" for speed creates a fair environment or merely favors those who can afford co-location infrastructure. The discussion underscored a fundamental tension between the benefits of price discovery for small investors and the need for new liquidity obligations to protect large-scale market participants.
- Milken Institute1h 1m
Health Care Delivery in the 21st Century
Sue Siegel, Annie Lamine, Larry Jamison, Jared Bernstein, Peter Bach, Carolyn Gallagher, Rachel Brathen, Eric Schmidt, David Levinson, David Freeman, Jr., Jared Dillian, Jr., John Keegan, David Kelley, Sue Killey, John McCurry, Jr., John McWhorter
A 2013 industry panel analyzed the intersection of $2 billion in digital health investment, escalating pharmaceutical pricing, and systemic inefficiencies driving healthcare to consume 18% of the U.S. GDP. Key stakeholders discussed how venture capital prioritizes waste reduction over profit while hospital systems increasingly acquire physicians to manage EHR costs and leverage drug discount programs. The discussion concluded by highlighting pilot initiatives like Cincinnati's Healthy Cities, which achieved $200 million in annual savings through care coordination, while projecting a future shift toward outcome-based value models.
- Milken Institute1h 1m
The Upside of Aging: A Conversation in the Pavilion
David, Henry, Mark Friedman, Frida, Hasi, Perry, Barry
Facing a global demographic shift where the over-65 population will double and Alzheimer's cases triple, experts are calling for a systemic transition from a linear life model to one that leverages older adults as a generative resource. The event outlines critical strategies to bridge workforce shortages and health disparities through personalized medical interventions, financial reforms, and policies that integrate "encore careers" while addressing social infrastructure gaps. By reframing aging as a period of increased natural resource potential rather than decline, the discussion emphasizes democratizing extended health spans and creating structures that support meaningful contribution across diverse economic and geographic regions.
- Milken Institute1h 2m
Entrepreneurial Leadership in the Corporate World
Betty Liu, Jeff Katzenberg, Greg Maffei, Barry Sternlich, Tom Wyatt
Leaders from DreamWorks, Liberty Media, Starwood Capital, and Knowledge Universe convened to discuss how large enterprises can navigate the tension between short-term public market pressures and the long-term innovation required for survival. These executives emphasized that fostering a culture of calculated risk, actively hiring non-traditional thinkers, and leveraging automation are essential strategies to avoid obsolescence in rapidly accelerating media and tech sectors. The panel further argued that true disruption arises not from internal strategy alone but from field-sourced ideas and global scalability, which enable organizations to pivot before competitors like Kodak fail to adapt.
- Milken Institute1h 3m
Chasing Cures: Reinventing the Business of Medicine
Melissa Stevens, John Noseworthy, Francis Collins, Mark Rothera, Melinda Richter, Monsef Slaoui
A panel of industry leaders and NIH officials advocates transforming biomedical research through open innovation models like the Accelerating Medicines Partnership, which pools $30 billion in funding to address major diseases by sharing data across pre-competitive collaborations. The discussion highlights a strategic shift toward patient-centric trials using real-world evidence and wearable technology to accelerate discovery while redefining value to include safety and patient-defined outcomes over mere cost containment. Looking ahead, experts anticipate breakthroughs in bio-electronic medicine and precision therapies, driven by regulatory reforms for orphan drugs and non-traditional partnerships that prioritize patient access over traditional discovery-to-commercialization silos.
- Milken Institute59 min
Redrawing the World Energy Map
Greg Zuckerman, David Collier, Tom Fanning, Mary Landrieu, Joe Naylor, T. Boone Pickens, Terry Outler, Sharon Smolian
A high-level panel of industry leaders and policymakers characterizes the U.S. energy sector as a technological revolution that has surpassed production peaks to contribute trillions to the economy, while criticizing federal regulatory fragmentation for delaying infrastructure like the Keystone XL pipeline. Experts including T. Boone Pickens and Senator Mary Landrieu advocate for a unified national strategy to balance environmental stewardship with economic growth, arguing that natural gas serves as a necessary bridge to a cleaner future that offers significant geopolitical advantages. The discussion concludes by emphasizing that despite valid environmental concerns regarding water usage and carbon emissions, the abundance of domestic resources and the necessity of fossil fuel backup make energy exports vital for global market influence and national security.