Latest Interviews
Showing 916–930 of 1,410 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Milken Institute40 min
California Leading the Future of Energy
Harry Atwater, Caroline Choi, Mark Herrema, Jane Wells
A panel featuring leaders from Caltech, SoCal Edison, and New Light Technologies explores contrasting strategies for climate mitigation, ranging from JCAP's artificial photosynthesis research and California's push for 80% zero-carbon energy by 2030 to New Light Technologies' commercial production of methane-derived biodegradable plastics. While SoCal Edison outlines the necessity of infrastructure investment to electrify transport and buildings, New Light CEO Mark Harriman details a successful licensing model that has secured billions of pounds in plastic orders with partners like IKEA. The discussion concludes by emphasizing the critical role of chemical fuels for hard-to-electrify sectors like aviation and the urgency of converting carbon emissions into valuable market products to achieve net-negative outcomes.
- Milken Institute34 min
California's Future Economy
Kevin Klowden, Kevin Demoff, Charles Harrington, Paul Markovich, Betty Yee
Hosted by the California Center for Regional Economics, a panel of leaders from Blue Shield, Parsons, the LA Rams, and the Controller's Office examined the intersection of infrastructure, healthcare, and human capital in shaping the state's future economy. Panelists identified critical challenges including healthcare costs suppressing wage growth, automation threatening tax revenue sustainability, and the urgent need to secure aging infrastructure against cyber threats. To address these issues, the group advocated for public-private partnerships like the Inglewood micro-city project, expanded workforce training initiatives, and blended funding models to maintain California's global economic leadership over the coming decades.
- Milken Institute59 min
California's Solutions to Health Care
Anna Gorman, Kimberly Evon, Yiwen Li, Josh Ofman, Hugh Waters, Claudia Williams, Kim Avon
A multi-stakeholder panel addressed California's $378 billion chronic disease burden and an impending home care workforce crisis by advocating for a transition from volume-based to value-based care models. Industry leaders and policymakers highlighted precision medicine, targeted genomic testing, and community health workers as critical strategies to reduce inefficiencies while opposing direct price controls that might stifle innovation. The consensus emphasized establishing a common data infrastructure and robust payment reforms to enable California to lead the nation in preventative care and universal access.
- Milken Institute48 min
Immigration and the California Economy
Andrea Bernstein, Gray Davis, Maria Elena Durazo, Iliana Perez, Perry Wong, Caroline Walker, Krishna Thangavelu
Panelists including Perry Wong, Governor Gray Davis, and Maria Elena Durazo convened to address the economic instability caused by shifting U.S. trade policies under the Trump administration and the looming uncertainty surrounding DACA and immigration reform. The discussion highlighted California's heavy reliance on immigrant labor to fill critical roles in technology and healthcare while warning that the proposed sunset clauses in NAFTA and restrictive immigration enforcement strategies threaten billions in economic activity and workforce continuity. Participants emphasized the necessity of comprehensive legislative solutions to stabilize the labor market against a coming demographic shift as the Baby Boomer generation exits the workforce.
- Milken Institute1h 10m
Investing in California's Future
Michael Milken, Melanie Lundquist, Dominic Ng, Antonio Villaraigosa, Steve Westly
A diverse panel of civic leaders, educators, and philanthropists including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Steve Westly addressed California's paradox of high productivity paired with critical deficits in education, housing, and infrastructure. The group highlighted transformative outcomes from the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, where graduation rates in partner institutions nearly doubled, while advocating for urgent public-private investments in early childhood education, green technology, and workforce-ready curricula. To sustain economic growth and address systemic inequality, the discussion concluded with recommendations to redefine infrastructure for the autonomous age, leverage California's demographic diversity for global trade, and implement housing cap-and-trade mechanisms to ensure equitable access.
- Milken Institute1h 14m
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.
- Milken Institute59 min
Blockchain for Social Impact
Matthew Spence, Brian Forde, Hugh Gordon, Robert Hertzberg, Lily Liu
This panel explored blockchain technology as a distributed ledger enabling immutable public records, contrasting proof-of-work and proof-of-stake consensus models while highlighting applications in land titling, identity verification, and healthcare data sovereignty. Senator Robert Hertzberg announced upcoming California legislation to establish a regulatory framework, aiming to modernize government infrastructure and rebuild public trust alongside international initiatives in nations like Estonia and Georgia. Despite security vulnerabilities and market volatility, the discussion emphasized blockchain's potential to revolutionize micropayments, decentralized capital formation, and the global freelance economy through tokenization and reduced intermediaries.
- Milken Institute1h 2m
Sustainable Solutions For a Green Future
Tracy Gray, Tom McGrath, Nancy Pfund, Dakota Semler, Azita Yazdani, Richael Young
Moderator Tracy Marder convened a panel featuring investment leaders Nancy Fund of DBL Partners and Tom McGrath of Vital Clean Tech Ventures to explore how impact capital drives innovation in sectors like transportation, energy storage, and agriculture. The discussion detailed specific breakthroughs from founders including Michelle of Mammoth Trading, Dakota Simler of Thor Trucks, and Azita Yazdani of Exergy Systems, who presented data-driven solutions for groundwater management, electric heavy-duty logistics, and decentralized water recovery. Ultimately, the session emphasized the necessity of long-term policy stability and equitable workforce development to scale these technologies toward the $1.3 trillion annual sustainable energy investment required by 2030.
- Milken Institute1h 2m
Women Leading a Wellness Revolution
Joyce Chang, Nancy Brinker, Alexia Brue, Donna Karan, Melanie Whelan
Moderated by Joyce Chang, a panel of industry leaders including SoulCycle CEO Melanie Whalen and Susan G. Komen founder Nancy Brinker explored how community building drives success across wellness, fashion, and healthcare sectors. The discussion highlighted specific organizational strategies such as SoulCycle's referral-based growth and Urban Zen's integrated care models, while identifying systemic barriers like transportation gaps and the need for user-owned health data. Ultimately, the group advocated for a future where wellness is accessible to all, emphasizing the role of conscious consumerism and educational integration in preventing chronic disease and fostering global connection.
- Milken Institute52 min
Putting Prevention First
Liz Szabo, Kelly Close, William Dietz, Frank Hu, Anne Schuchat, Hugh Waters, Bill Dietz
Presenting the latest CDC data and Harvard research, this event highlights that nearly 40% of U.S. adults and 20% of children are obese, driving a three-fold increase in chronic diseases and a 7% rise in obesity-related cancers. The discussion details how excess weight gain in young adulthood significantly elevates risks for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and premature death, while costing the U.S. economy $3.4 trillion annually. To address these escalating trends, experts advocate for a strategic shift from individual willpower to systemic interventions targeting young adults, including improved food access, campus wellness programs, and increased federal funding for the CDC.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Driving the Digital Health Revolution
Indu Subaiya, Paul Chew, Karen DeSalvo, Esther Dyson, Cindy Elkins, Donald Jones, Don Jones
The digital health sector is pivoting from episodic treatment to preventative "generating health" models, driven by a projected shortage of 40,000 primary care physicians by 2030 and the need to address social determinants that account for 80% of health outcomes. Companies like Omada Health and Way to Wellville are disrupting traditional fee-for-service structures by implementing value-based payment reforms that leverage behavioral design, remote coaching, and community-led interventions to achieve measurable clinical results. Despite significant funding and technological advancements in AI and connected devices, widespread adoption faces critical hurdles including regulatory lag, the digital divide, and the need for new data ownership frameworks to support equitable population health management.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Healthy Living Equals Healthy Aging: How Where We Live, Work and Play Can Impact Our Longevity
Anand Parekh, Catherine Anderson, Frank Diana, Omar Nagji, Allison Silberberg, Pattie Dale Tye
Industry leaders from Humana, Lyft, UnitedHealthcare, and the City of Alexandria convened to address the critical intersection of aging demographics and healthcare access, highlighting how transportation barriers and social isolation drive significant health disparities. The panel detailed strategic partnerships that integrate non-clinical services like housing stability and food security into core care models, demonstrating measurable successes in reducing missed medical appointments and improving community health metrics. By advocating for regulatory agility and cross-sector data integration, these stakeholders outlined a roadmap for shifting from reactive treatment to preventative, community-centric solutions that support healthy life extension.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Raising an Active Generation
Sean Gregory, Mark Abbott, Eric Boerwinkle, Bruce Y. Lee, Kathleen Tullie
Discussions highlight how a $15 billion youth sports industry and restrictive school policies have created significant health disparities and participation gaps for children in lower-income neighborhoods. To address these systemic barriers, stakeholders including the MLS, Reebok, and corporate partners are deploying grassroots solutions such as free mini-pitches, sampling-based training programs, and mobile donation initiatives to increase accessibility and physical literacy. These strategic shifts prioritize unstructured play, injury prevention, and inclusive recreational leagues to counteract burnout and ensure long-term retention across diverse communities.
- Milken Institute54 min
The Rapidly Changing Food Industry and What it Means for Health
Michael Klowden, Cristina Alesci, Shane Emmett, Neil Grimmer, Douglas Munk, Jonathan Neman, Irwin Simon
A global food industry pivot is driven by millennial demand for transparency, personalized nutrition, and long-term health outcomes, forcing major players like Nestlé and Hain Celestial to launch billion-dollar initiatives and restructure supply chains. While small innovators like Health Warrior and Daily Table demonstrate viability through agile models and strategic partnerships, they face persistent structural barriers including retail placement dominance by established brands and federal subsidies that favor nutrient-poor crops. The market is increasingly converging toward scalable "dynamic menus" and affordable infrastructure, as leaders recognize that bridging the cost gap requires merging advanced biological data with massive logistical efficiency.
- Milken Institute1h 2m
Women Leading a Wellness Revolution
Joyce Chang, Nancy Brinker, Alexia Brue, Donna Karan, Melanie Whelan
Moderated by Joyce Chang, a panel of industry leaders including Donna Karan, Nancy Brinker, Alexia Brew, and Melanie Whalen convened to redefine the wellness movement as a collaborative force driven by community accountability and shared impact. The discussion highlighted distinct strategies for systemic change, from SoulCycle's peer-driven transformation model and Well and Good's democratization of health journalism to Susan G. Komen's focus on closing care access gaps and Urban Zen's integration of holistic care within commercial and healthcare frameworks. Ultimately, the group agreed that the future of wellness relies on shifting resources from reactive "sick care" to preventative lifestyle solutions supported by clean data and scalable community networks.