Latest Interviews

A Conversation with Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan | Global Conference 2024

Queen Rania Al Abdullah, Kevin Herglotz, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, Ali Velshi

Queen Rania addresses the global humanitarian crisis by warning that "us vs. them" polarization and unsustainable military operations in Rafah are driving toward large-scale civilian deaths and eroding prospects for peace. She rejects the narrative that the two-state solution is dead, instead attributing stagnation to a deficit of political will and explicitly condemning any forced transfer of Palestinians as a "second Nakba." Urging the United States to enforce international law rather than offering unconditional support, she argues that long-term Israeli security remains impossible without ending the illegal occupation and addressing the systematic injustices facing both populations.

Transformative Philanthropy and Innovation | Milken Institute Global Conference 2024

Melissa Stevens, Pablo Legorreta, Strive Masiyiwa, Louise Richardson, Mark Walter

CEO Mark Walter, Strive Masiwa, Dame Louise Richardson, and Pablo Legareta convened to define transformative philanthropy as high-risk capital that drives systemic change in healthcare, education, and conservation. The panel detailed specific strategies such as Legareta's medical therapies for transplant patients, Walter's vocational schools in Chicago, and community-integrated conservation models in Zimbabwe that successfully reduced rhino poaching. Ultimately, the leaders agreed that effective philanthropy must prioritize sustainable governance and local resource mobilization to mitigate polarization and create a self-sustaining future.

Conversation with Senator Joe Manchin, Jigar Shah, & Chevron CEO Michael Wirth | Global Conference

Joe Manchin, Jigar Shah, Michael Wirth, David Westin, Mike

Debate leaders, including Senator Manchin and LPO Director Jigar Shah, examined the $500 billion federal energy investment framework while clashing over the pace of EV subsidies, hydrogen regulation, and the necessity of government loans to de-risk private capital. Key figures emphasized that despite rapid solar deployment, permitting bottlenecks and conflicting agency signals threaten grid stability and the timely retirement of fossil assets. The discussion concluded by highlighting the urgent need for comprehensive permitting reform to align domestic economic incentives with global net-zero trajectories before the current funding authority expires.

Leading in the Generative AI Revolution | Milken Institute Global Conference 2024

Sara Eisen, Greg Brown, Arvind Krishna, Thomas Kurian, Janet Truncale, Sharmini Peries, Janet Napolitanovich, Thomas Kaplan, Nicole Sullivan, Arvind K.

Prominent industry leaders including Arvind Krishna, Thomas Kurian, and Greg Clark characterize the AI sector as being in its early developmental stage, emphasizing a strategic pivot from immediate productivity gains to scalable deployment across public safety, healthcare, and enterprise operations. These executives detail a multi-cloud infrastructure approach where organizations like Motorola Solutions and EY leverage edge AI and "human-in-the-loop" frameworks to address data sovereignty, bias, and trust barriers while augmenting workforce capabilities rather than displacing them. The panel concludes that future growth depends on navigating light-touch regulatory environments and combating misinformation through rigorous data management and open-source collaboration.

Why Startup Founders Should Launch Companies Sooner Than They Think

This presentation dismantles the myth of the single-shot launch, arguing that founders should immediately release imperfect MVPs to gather critical data rather than delaying for perfection. It highlights Y Combinator's peer-pressure strategy and case studies like Airbnb and Brex to demonstrate that early failure provides essential learning while the market rarely remembers product stumbles. By redefining launch goals from revenue generation to information gathering, founders can overcome psychological barriers to build products that deeply serve a small, urgent user base.

A Conversation with Deepak Chopra and Seth Rogen | Milken Institute Global Conference 2023

Deepak Chopra, Seth Rogen, Alex Witt

Deepak Chopra and Seth Rogen discuss a holistic approach to extending health span over mere lifespan, emphasizing that lifestyle factors outweigh genetic predispositions in preventing Alzheimer's disease. They outline actionable strategies ranging from epigenetic regulation through emotional states to specific daily protocols involving meditation, exercise, and nutritional adjustments. The dialogue concludes by highlighting the work of Hilarity for Charity in educating youth about brain health while challenging conventional definitions of success in favor of joy and timeless awareness.

Credit Markets Forging Ahead | Milken Institute Global Conference 2024

Will Caiger-Smith, Ashley Baum, Michael Buchanan, Lee Kruter, Michael Patterson

A panel of investors analyzed the post-tightening fixed income landscape, highlighting how rising Treasury yields severely impacted duration-sensitive assets while high-yield and bank loan sectors demonstrated resilience through credit risk isolation. The Texas Teachers Retirement System outlined its opportunistic credit strategy, deploying $7.5 billion into asset-based financing and real estate loans while navigating a market where private credit's dominance is receding amid a sharp rebound in syndicated loan issuance. Furthermore, the discussion addressed the evolution of distress dynamics, noting that while modern covenants masked default rates, a wave of coercive liability management exercises and covenant erosion now signals an impending cycle of stricter documentation and reduced recovery rates.

The Future of Corporate Governance | Milken Institute Global Conference 2024

Andy Serwer, Betsy Atkins, Jarvis V. Hollingsworth, Dambisa Moyo, Ronald Sugar, Mark A. Weinberger

Prominent governance leaders including Betsy Atkins, Ron Sugar, and Mark Weinberger address the imperative for boards to navigate rapid generative AI adoption and geopolitical fissures by embracing ambiguity and shifting from short-term survival to long-term value creation. The discussion highlights critical board evolution strategies, such as confidential peer assessments, the integration of digital upskilling roles, and the necessity of balancing stakeholder interests with rigorous capital allocation across diverse sectors from tech to sovereign wealth funds. By contrasting the governance models of public companies, state institutions like the Texas Teachers Retirement System, and global entities like Saudi Aramco, the speakers conclude that effective oversight requires a tailored approach that aligns board composition and risk tolerance with specific CEO archetypes and industry-specific assets.

Lunch Program | Part 1: Well-being in the Digital Era

Louise Tabbiner, Deepak Chopra, Paris Hilton

Deepak Chopra and Paris Hilton explore the intersection of narrative psychology, business strategy, and holistic health, arguing that human perception is a constructed story and that chronic disease is largely driven by anxiety rather than genetics. The dialogue challenges the notion that rigid ambition guarantees success, proposing instead that aligning with one's higher purpose through the "Happiness Formula" and the "STOPS" meditation method yields greater fulfillment than mere hard work. Through this exchange, they illustrate how Hilton leveraged a 70-million-person social ecosystem to evolve from a celebrity persona into a $3 billion enterprise while advocating for compassion to counteract the loneliness of a hyper-connected society.

Oil’s extended reign? Adapting to a new era in oil markets

Daan Struyven, Nikhil Bhandari, Alison Nathan, Dan Stroivin

Goldman Sachs projects global oil demand will peak around 2034 rather than 2024, driven by emerging market growth in India and China where jet fuel and petrochemical consumption continue to rise despite stagnating EV sales in developed economies. The bank forecasts Brent crude to trade between $75 and $90 per barrel through 2026, supported by OPEC spare capacity, before supply risks intensify in the latter half of the decade due to underinvestment in long-cycle projects and structural tightness in the refining sector. Political outcomes in the 2024 US election may further influence prices through potential sanctions on Iran or changes to EV incentives, with the firm recommending gold over oil as a primary hedge against policy-driven inflation.

Enterprise Sales | Startup School

Pete Koomen, Pete Kuhman

Optimizely co-founder Pete Kuhman outlines a rigorous enterprise sales framework for technical founders, emphasizing that selling before product-market fit requires experimentation with targeted prospecting and personalized outreach. The strategy prioritizes deep discovery during initial calls, uses product-specific narratives to demonstrate value during demos, and treats pricing as a signal of problem severity rather than a fixed metric. By actively managing implementation roadmaps to ensure customer adoption and navigating procurement hurdles with internal champions, founders can transform sales skills into a transferable superpower for fundraising and hiring.

Credit Outlook | Milken Institute Global Conference 2024

Michael Milken, James Keenan, Victor Khosla, Marc Lipschultz, Purnima Puri

Leading institutional investors from BlackRock, Blue Owl Capital, Strategic Value Partners, and J.P. Morgan Partners outlined a rigorous selection framework that targets only 2% to 5% of reviewed deals to navigate a "higher for longer" interest rate environment. Panelists emphasized that private credit offers superior covenant protection and recovery rates compared to public markets, positioning it as a permanent portfolio diversifier rather than a temporary boom as bank deleveraging drives capital toward asset managers. Looking ahead, industry leaders anticipate a multi-year opportunity in distressed debt and non-sponsor financing, where operational involvement and strict governance will define success amid projected $600 billion in annual maturities.

Addressing Antisemitism and Religious Bias Based on Facts | Global Conference 2024

Richard Sandler, Van Jones, Daniel Lubetzky, Arielle Mokhtarzadeh, David Wolpe

Rabbi David Wolpe, Van Jones, Daniel Lesetsky, and Ariel Macarza Day convened to analyze the post-October 7 surge in antisemitism, framing it as an ideological war driven by foreign influence and Marxist binaries that threatens the historic Black-Jewish alliance. The panel detailed specific campus realities, including the physical barring of Jewish students and the strategic use of anonymity by masked protesters, while contrasting Jewish fears of genocide with Black anxieties about police brutality to explain the current fragmentation. To counter these threats, the experts proposed a strategic "Five H's" alliance between Black and Jewish communities, advocating for institutional partnerships between HBCUs and Hillels and a shift from defensive posturing to active legal enforcement against hate crimes.

A Conversation with OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap | Global Conference 2024

Brad Lightcap, Julia Boorstin

OpenAI is accelerating enterprise adoption through strategic partnerships with entities like Stack Overflow and major publishers while demonstrating tangible operational efficiencies, such as Klarna's reduction of support ticket resolution times by 82%. Despite rapid integration into 92% of Fortune 500 companies, leadership warns that energy supply chain constraints and regulatory caution pose significant hurdles to scaling the infrastructure required for future multimodal models. The organization is shifting toward an iterative deployment strategy to smooth the transition from text-based tools to collaborative AI teammates, aiming to foster workforce familiarity while mitigating the risks of insufficient economic growth.

Conversation with Federal Reserve Bank of New York President & CEO John Williams | Global Conference

John Williams, Brooke Masters

Federal Reserve Chair John Williams characterizes the U.S. economy as transitioning toward a sustainable 2% inflation target, noting that restrictive monetary policy will persist until data confirms balanced progress on employment and price stability. While recent supply-side gains from labor participation and immigration supported 3.1% GDP growth, forecasts indicate a moderation to 2-2.5% as consumer spending diverges between affluent and lower-income households. Williams further warns that geopolitical volatility, potential labor market impacts from artificial intelligence adoption, and demographic shifts signal an end to the era of low economic uncertainty.