Latest Interviews

MH17: can Russia be held to account?

Following the 2014 downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine, a Dutch-led investigation utilized digital evidence to identify the Buk missile launch as originating from Russian-controlled territory. The Netherlands and Australia now seek international legal accountability through the European Court of Human Rights or domestic trials, aiming to prosecute specific Russian agents despite the Kremlin's denial and jurisdictional hurdles. While these proceedings face significant enforcement challenges due to the absence of extradition mechanisms, they represent the primary avenue for establishing state responsibility and asserting that the international community rejects the dismissal of the incident.

What will be the biggest stories of 2019? | Part Two

In 2019, global advancements will see augmented reality headsets deployed in major surgical centers like St. Mary's to enhance precision, while Japan launches the Rugby World Cup to stimulate tourism and enacts legislation to admit 345,000 foreign workers amidst demographic decline. Simultaneously, the United States faces heightened political friction as Democrats assume House control to subpoena President Trump, and the European Union navigates a contentious parliamentary election that threatens to deepen fragmentation between populist and established factions. These domestic and international shifts coincide with a renewed surge in space exploration, marked by private and national lunar missions aiming to utilize frozen resources and achieve greater demographic diversity in orbit.

Fashion's toxic threads

Professor Richard Thompson, Tom Kay, Javier Goyeneche

Professor Richard Thompson highlights the fashion industry's severe environmental footprint, identifying synthetic fiber shedding during washing as a primary source of microplastic pollution that now contaminates up to one-third of fish in the English Channel. In response to these ecological threats, pioneering brands like Finisterre and EcoAlf are restructuring their supply chains to utilize organic materials and recycled ocean plastics, despite facing higher production costs and a lack of regulatory frameworks. While these sustainable initiatives offer a path forward, experts warn that without stricter laws and further research into long-term human health impacts, the industry's current trajectory poses an immediate danger to marine ecosystems.

Geoff Ralston and Adora Cheung Discuss Startup School

Geoff Ralston, Adora Cheung, Craig, Jeff

Startup School is a 10-week Stanford-taught online program led by YC partners and executives Paul Graham, Sam Altman, and Michael Seibel, designed to lower barriers for early-stage founders globally. The course offers two participation tracks featuring live lectures, expert advice from volunteer founders, and access to exclusive partner deals, while incentivizing serious commitment through $10,000 equity-free grants awarded to 100 completing companies. Building on last year's success where 38 graduates entered the YC accelerator, the initiative aims to maximize global innovation by fostering accountability and providing capital to prevent promising startups from failing due to early funding gaps.

Putin's Russia and the ghost of the Romanovs

Putin, Romanovs

On the centenary of the Bolshevik execution of the Romanov family, Russian President Vladimir Putin navigates a political dilemma by promoting a revisionist narrative that frames Russia as a continuous state under an all-powerful autocrat, thereby sidestepping the condemnation of the 1917 revolution that established the modern state. This approach leverages an alliance with the Russian Orthodox Church to legitimize Putin's centralization of power and domestic repression, contrasting sharply with the 1998 efforts to acknowledge the Tsarist murder as a crime. Despite the current stability of his regime through military conflicts and the erosion of the Duma's authority, historical precedents suggest the unpredictability of Russia's governmental systems.

John F.W. Rogers: Opening Session Remarks

John F.W. Rogers, Kevin McCarthy, Tyler Perry, Danny Meyer, Sarah Kauss, Wilbur L. Ross, Sara Blakely, Michael Bloomberg, Gina Raimondo, Rick Snyder, Marco Rubio, Lloyd Blankfein, Richard Branson, Warren Buffett

Goldman Sachs is convening 10,000 Small Business Program alumni, including 2,200 current participants, to address critical operational hurdles such as hiring and financing while leveraging the sector's role in employing 60 million Americans. The summit features a strategic "Hill Day" that mobilizes this diverse network to meet with elected officials across all 50 states and nearly all congressional districts to advocate for legislative relief. By uniting these resource-constrained firms, the event aims to bridge the gap between current business expectations and future capabilities through actionable insights and direct policy engagement.

How to stop the ivory trade

Dr Sam Wasser

African elephant populations face imminent extinction due to poaching driven by a $4,000 black market for ivory that funds militant groups like Boko Haram and the Lord's Resistance Army. Scientific forensics confirm that recent large seizures consist almost entirely of newly poached tusks originating from East African hotspots, a trend exacerbated by the 2008 decision to allow limited legal sales which blurred the line between legitimate and illegal stockpiles. While the United States and China have recently implemented near-total or complete bans to stifle demand and lower prices, conservationists argue that closing remaining legal markets, such as those in Britain, is essential to fully eliminate the illicit trade's supply chain.

Made in California: Presentations from California Grown Startups

Dorothy Rothrock, Ian Coll McEachern, Gordon Fowler, Gabe Grifoni, Susie Harborth, Stella Kramer, Carmen Palafox, Dolly Singh, Ken Sunshine

Leaders from Make in LA, The Glue Factory, and BioLabs San Diego convened to address critical workforce shortages in California's manufacturing and biotech sectors while analyzing the rise of hardware-enabled startups and fragmented funding landscapes. The session featured five case studies illustrating this shift, including Vector Space Systems' launch vehicle innovation, Sangenomics' personalized probiotic therapy, and Thesis Couture's engineering-driven footwear. Presenters highlighted a strategic pivot from traditional networking to resource access, emphasizing the need for specialized incubators to support solopreneurs and the convergence of software with IoT and frontier technologies.

Transforming cities with technology

Fabio Duarte, Caitlin Dolkaert, Nick Mokua

With global urbanization driving 900 million people into slums and cities consuming three-quarters of world energy, the smart city sector is surging toward a $1.5 trillion valuation by leveraging real-time data networks. Innovators in Seoul, Nairobi, and Boston demonstrate this shift by deploying integrated sensor systems to optimize transportation, coordinate emergency services, and detect public health crises through sewage and infrastructure monitoring. These initiatives prioritize using data to "make people smarter," directly addressing affordability, traffic gridlock, and opioid surges without relying solely on hardware deployment.

A Conversation with PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi

Indra Nooyi, Michael Milken, Andrew, Mike

PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi transformed the beverage and snack giant through "Performance with Purpose," a strategy that integrated social and environmental sustainability into core operations while shifting the revenue portfolio toward healthier product lines. This cultural overhaul was driven by scientific leadership under Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Mahmood Khan and reinforced by tying executive compensation to specific nutritional and environmental goals. Nooyi further extended the company's impact by forging partnerships with healthcare institutions to improve access for underserved veterans and advocating for systemic policy changes to address chronic disease and nutritional equity.

Populism is reshaping our world

Matteo Renzi, Beppe Grillo, Jeff Siegel, Virginia Raggi, Robert Callista, Russell Hancock, Harry Part Ovi, Sebastian Thrun

Following the 2016 Italian referendum defeat of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, the Five Star Movement capitalized on economic stagnation to emerge as the primary opposition party, signaling a broader global surge in populism driven by automation-induced inequality. While experts identify technological displacement, particularly in sectors like trucking, as a root cause of economic dislocation, leaders such as Sebastian Thrun and Harry Part Ovi advocate for systemic reforms including lifelong learning and accessible retraining programs. Ultimately, restoring stability to Western democracies requires political and business leaders to address the grievances of alienated populations through concrete economic solutions rather than allowing technological disruption to fuel further anti-establishment sentiment.

The Global Economy: A Conversation With Timothy Geithner, Henry Paulson and Robert Rubin

Timothy Geithner, Henry Paulson, Robert Rubin, Sheryl Sandberg, Eric Garcetti, Bob Rubin, Hank Paulson, Tim Geithner

The Milken Institute Global Conference convened 3,500 participants from 55 countries to discuss U.S. economic recovery, gender inequality, and global leadership through a high-level panel featuring Bob Rubin, Hank Paulson, and Tim Geithner. The former Treasury Secretaries identified domestic political dysfunction as the primary barrier to addressing stagnant wages, unsustainable entitlements, and climate change risks, while emphasizing the necessity of renewed U.S.-China cooperation. Concurrently, the event highlighted Los Angeles as a hub for innovation and demographic diversity, celebrating its record-breaking female speaker representation alongside data-driven initiatives on successful aging and economic prosperity.

Ray Kelly, Former NYPD Commissioner: Talks at GS Session Highlights

Ray Kelly, Raymond Kelly

Former NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly, the first officer to rise from a cadet to the agency's top leadership, details his tenure's establishment of the first municipal counterterrorism bureau and the surveillance of major events like the 2010 Times Square bombing attempt. Kelly critiques a 2011 ruling on racial profiling as evidentiary flawed and warns that current oversight measures and the refusal to appeal could shift policing from proactive crime prevention to reactive responses, a strategy he links to a reduction of 9,300 murders over two decades. With ISIS cited as an escalating global threat, Kelly advocates for the continued use of data-driven security initiatives like the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative while balancing privacy concerns through automatic data deletion protocols.

Son of a Gambling Man: My Journey from a Casino Family to the Governor's Mansion

Bob Miller, Joel Kurtzman, Mike Milken

On January 21, 2014, Harvard researchers Aris Aydin and Jean-Baptiste Michel will discuss *Uncharted Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture* alongside former Nevada Governor Bob Miller, who remains at the venue to sign copies of his autobiography. The event contextualizes Miller's career within the broader evolution of Las Vegas, tracing its transformation from a mob-influenced gambling hub into a globally recognized economic leader through the strategic visions of figures like Bugsy Siegel, Howard Hughes, and Steve Wynn. By detailing shifts in financing, regulatory oversight, and infrastructure, the session highlights how legal enforcement and corporate innovation drove Nevada's diversification beyond gaming into fields such as biotechnology, mining, and tech.