TEDxCapeMay

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check the event website for the latest lineup.

• Alexis Redding

  Developmental Psychologist

  Dr. Alexis Redding is a developmental psychologist and the faculty co-chair of Higher Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is a leading expert on college student mental health and the editor of the forthcoming book Mental Health in College: What Research Tells Us About Supporting Students. Her research is focused on how we support young adults navigating college and career transitions, and she is the co-author of The End of Adolescence: The Lost Art of Delaying Adulthood, which examines these topics across generations. Her research has been featured in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Teen Vogue.

• Angela Burgess

  Consultant

  Angela Burgess is the President & CEO of Broad Oaks Consulting, a consulting firm dedicated to transforming how mission-driven organizations lead and raise funds. A former wealth management executive turned nonprofit champion, Angela brings strategic precision and human-centered insight to the world of social impact. Angela is also the best-selling author of Are You on the Right Bus? Navigating Change on the Road to Success, a memoir-meets-roadmap that challenges readers to align their lives with their values. Originally from Iowa City, Iowa, Angela brings real-world insight, results-driven strategies, and a dash of Iowa pragmatism to her work. Today she lives in Houston, TX with her husband, Gary, and their dog, Enzo. She loves cooking and eating great food — especially when it’s shared around a table with friends and family. When she’s not hosting dinner, you’ll find her on the golf course with Gary, fitting in a workout, or chasing the next adventure in this big, beautiful world.

• Dan Wenker

  Author and avid mountaineer

  Dan Wenker is an author, speaker, outdoor enthusiast, avid mountaineer, former REI outdoor experiences guide, and sales/marketing consultant. His book, Staying on Guard, tells the harrowing tale of his near-death 60-foot fall into an underground ice moat while descending the Grand Teton in Wyoming and how his mountaineering journey has positively impacted him physically, mentally, and spiritually. For more information on Dan Wenker, visit StayingonGuard.org

• Dani Klein Modisett

  Comedian

  Dani Klein Modisett is a comedian/author and Founder/CEO of the award-winning company Laughter On Call. LOC launched to help her mother who became depressed facing the disease. Since then the company has grown to help all people feeling isolated. It has trained thousands of caregivers and worked with over 600 companies around the world including META, Amazon, Capital One, and Bristol Myers. Dani is also author of the books, “Afterbirth: stories you won’t read in a parenting magazine (St. Martin’s Press) “Take My Spouse, Please,” (Penguin Random House) a how-to for using comedian’s tools to keep laughing in marriage. Dani taught Stand-Up at UCLA for 10 years and has coached business leaders and Congressional candidates to use humor to connect. She’s been a keynote speaker at Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, Dartmouth Entrepreneur Forum, CALA, ICAA. She has been a guest speaker at the Milken Global Conference, Stanford, MIT, Columbia, Fuqua and Harvard Business School.

• Julia Flynn Siler

  Author and journalist

  Julia Flynn Siler is a New York Times best-selling author and journalist. Her most recent book, The White Devil's Daughters: The Women Who Fought Slavery in San Francisco's Chinatown, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and a nonfiction finalist for the California Book Award. Her other books are The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty, a finalist for a James Beard Award and a Gerald Loeb Award for distinguished reporting, and Lost Kingdom: Hawaii’s Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America’s First Imperial Adventure. She is a regular contributor to National Geographic and The Wall Street Journal, is a member of the National Book Critics Circle, a juror for the Commonwealth Club’s California Book Awards, and spent this past spring as an academic visitor at Oxford University as part of its Oxford Next Horizons Program. She most recently wrote a feature story for The Wall Street Journal about walking in Jane Austen’s footsteps.

• Keith McCormick

  Professor

  Keith McCormick currently serves as the 2025-2026 Bodily Centennial Professor of Analytics at the Darden Business School, University of Virginia. Keith is a prolific contributor to the LinkedIn Learning platform where his courses have attracted over one million learners. A frequent conference speaker and podcast guest, Keith has been building statistical, machine learning and AI models since the 1990s. An independent consultant most of his career, he has also been an award winning instructor for UC Irvine, the author of seven books, an AI Evangelist for three tech startup companies, and the GM of the advanced analytics team for an IBM partner. Although he no longer looks the part, throughout his 20s Keith was an Army Reserve officer, having been to basic training in his teens, and earning an ROTC scholarship that helped him study computer science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

• Mark Lenhard

  Senior living administrator

  With nearly 30 years of experience in senior living, Mark Lenhard is a dedicated servant leader committed to the ministry of caring for others. His extensive leadership and management background includes multi-site senior living operations, financial oversight, fundraising, project development, strategic planning, team building, and public policy. Mark Lenhard was appointed President & CEO of United Methodist Communities (UMC), a faith-based nonprofit senior living provider serving NJ seniors and their families, in 2022. Prior to joining the UMC team, Mark served as President & CEO of The Wesleyan in Georgetown, Texas. Mark has held various volunteer leadership roles with local chambers of commerce, advisory boards, and industry groups such as Leading Age Texas. Additionally, he has been a panelist and presenter for LeadingAge New Jersey & Delaware and LeadingAge National conferences. Mark has been a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator (LNHA) since 1996.

• Nina Schick

  AI Expert

  Nina Schick is a globally recognized expert on AI, geopolitics, and power. She has been at the forefront of how AI is reshaping global dominance. Nina was among the first to predict the societal impact of AI-generated content (Deepfakes, 2020) and now leads the conversation on Industrial Intelligence—the idea that AI is not just a software revolution, but a physical, geopolitical, and industrial transformation. Half-Nepalese, half-German, she speaks seven languages and has worked across Europe, Asia, and North America. Now based in the U.S., Nina is focused on how AI will reshape global power in the 21st century.

• Ryan Benz

  Author

  Ryan Benz is a bestselling author, speaker, and storyteller known for his deeply human approach to authenticity and personal growth. With nearly two decades of experience as a brand strategist helping organizations uncover what makes them truly unique, Ryan eventually realized that the most important brand you’ll ever build is the one inside yourself. Today, he draws on that insight to guide his work with individuals and teams—helping them cultivate authenticity, build resilience, and inspire growth in life, work, and everything in between.