Miami Herbert Lecture Series
Distinguished Leaders Lecture Series
Miami Herbert's Distinguished Leaders Lecture Series brings students, alumni, and other members of the UM community together with top business leaders throughout the year.
Past Speakers
Nelson Peltz
Patrick Doyle
Mr. Doyle has served as Executive Chair of our Board since January 2023 and was appointed Executive Chairman of RBI in November 2022. Most recently, he served as an executive partner focused on the consumer sector of the Carlyle Group, a global diversified investment firm from September 2019 through November 2022.
Nely Galán
New York Times bestselling author and self-made entrepreneur Nely Galán's lecture “Self-Made: Leveraging Fear, Failure and Crisis,” explores her experiences as an entrepreneur, starting her own business as a Latina woman, navigating the world of finance, real estate investment, and small business start-ups.
Nancy Mahon
December 13, 2022
Nancy Mahon, Senior Vice President, Global Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability is a transformational, collaborative leader with deep global experience in enterprise-wide management as well as leading Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy, operations, marketing, reporting and risk reduction. In the increasingly disruptive ESG arena, Nancy is a trusted and sought-after advisor, speaker and enterprise ambassador. She is committed to taking the long view on building sustainable and inclusive companies, teams and communities. Nancy is an influential and effective company liaison with investors, ESG rankers and raters, government officials, NGOs, employees and customers.
Ed Stack
November 30, 2022
Ed Stack is the executive chairman of DICK'S Sporting Goods, the largest, omnichannel sporting goods retailer in the United States. In addition to overseeing merchandising for the company, Ed leads several of DICK'S key strategic growth initiatives. From 1984 through January 2021, Ed served as the company's chairman and chief executive officer. He led the company through a remarkable period of growth, guiding the company's evolution from two stores in upstate New York to a Fortune 500 company with more than 850 DICK'S Sporting Goods, Golf Galaxy, Public Lands, Going, Going, Gone! and Field & Stream stores.
Thomas Michaud
October 27, 2022
Tom Michaud serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW), an investment bank specializing in the financial services sector. Since joining the firm in 1986 as a credit analyst trainee, he has spent 36 years building the KBW franchise and leading many of its businesses.
Livio Bisterzo
In 2015, Livio founded Green Park with a mission to create, operate, and accelerate disruptor CPG brands that help create a future for the next generation where doing good business means doing more good for our consumers, in our communities and for our planet. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Green Park has rethought the world of CPG from the ground up, creating innovative and sustainable alternatives that meet the needs of tomorrow’s consumer, today.
Dr. Jaewon Ryu
September 27, 2022
During his tenure at Geisinger, Dr. Ryu has cultivated a spirit of innovation and transformation across the organization, driving new approaches to some of healthcare’s most complex problems. These include initiatives like primary care redesign; Geisinger at Home, which brings healthcare services to patients in their homes; and Geisinger 65 Forward, our senior-focused, concierge healthcare centers. All of these are examples of Dr. Ryu’s commitment to making health easier by improving outcomes, engagement, and affordability. This dedication to innovation for the health of our communities earned Dr. Ryu a top 20 spot on Modern Healthcare’s Most Influential Clinical Executives list for 2019.
Matthew Putman
September 7, 2022
Matthew Putman is the co-founder and CEO of Nanotronics, a science technology company that has redefined factory control through the invention of a platform that combines AI, automation, and sophisticated imagining to assist human ingenuity in detecting flaws and anomalies in manufacturing. Matthew and his team at Nanotronics are building New York’s first High-Tech Manufacturing Hub in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Sumit Singh
April 20, 2022
Sumit Singh, CEO of the nation’s leading online retailer of pet food and related products, highlighted how a workplace culture that encourages debate and a relentless focus on customer service feeds the company’s growth.
Lisa Lutoff-Perlo
April 13, 2022
Taking the helm as President and CEO at Celebrity Cruises in 2014, LutoffPerlo is a recognized trailblazer in the global hospitality industry. She is the driving force behind transforming and re-defining today’s new luxury cruise experience, with a bold, innovative approach to ship design and service. During this lecture, she discussed "The Future of Cruising."
Millard Drexler
April 5, 2022
Millard “Mickey” Drexler was born and raised in The Bronx New York and got his taste for the clothing industry working in the Garment District aged 16. Throughout his career, Mickey has created iconic American brands, earning him the nickname “The Merchant Prince of America”, a reference to his undisputed influence on shopping trends the last twenty years.
Kerwin Charles
April 19, 2022
Dean Kerwin Charles discussed the future of business schools and MBA degrees, diversity, and economics.
Laurie Silvers and Mitchell Rubenstein
April 13, 2022
Board of Trustees chair Laurie Silvers teamed with her husband and business partner, Mitchell Rubenstein, to share insights with budding entrepreneurs about their experiences in creating the Syfy Channel and a galaxy of other startups. Laurie Silvers and Mitchell Rubenstein, both attorneys specializing in media and entertainment, recounted the trials and tribulations—and ultimate extraordinary success—of turning their fantasy for a science fiction channel into a reality in the early 1990s, a venture they later sold to USA Network that is now owned by NBCUniversal Television.
David Whitaker
March 23, 2022
David Whitaker, President & CEO of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau discussed the future of tourism.
Marc Ganzi
Prior to becoming President and CEO of DigitalBridge, Ganzi founded and served as CEO of Digital Bridge Holdings, a leading global investor and owner of mobile and internet infrastructure that was acquired by DigitalBridge in July 2019 as part of DigitalBridge’s transformation to become the premier platform for digital infrastructure and real estate investment.
Cathie Wood
Larry Summers
January 12, 2022
Larry Summers, who was Treasury Secretary under former President Bill Clinton, and director of the National Economic Council under former President Barack Obama, discussed the U.S. economy, inflation, bitcoin, and the future of the United States.
Farooq Kathwari
December 2, 2021
Farooq Kathwari, who became president of Ethan Allen Interiors in 1985 and CEO and chairman in 1988, touted integrity, innovation, and a commitment to justice as key to business success, and shared his insights on leadership and life.
Dennis Minev
November 3, 2021
Denis Minev is CEO of Bemol, a retail, financial services, and renewable energy group based in the Brazilian Amazon. In 2012 he was nominated a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. Denis served as Secretary for Planning and Economic Development of the state of Amazonas in Brazil and previously worked as a financial analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co. He co-founded three NGOs, Fundação Amazonas Sustentável, Museu da Amazônia and Parceiros Pela Amazônia.
Noah Tepperberg
October 21, 2021
Noah Tepperberg spoke about his time as an undergraduate at the University of Miami, how he started his entrepreneurial journey in the UM dorm rooms promoting clubs on South Beach, to being a visionary leader who originated, alongside his partners, some of the most successful and innovative nightclub and restaurant brands of the past 20 years.
Carlos Brito
Carlos Brito, who transformed a Latin American regional enterprise into the world’s largest brewing company, attributed the firm’s expansion and global success to the company’s culture that highlights meritocracy—recruiting and developing young employees and promoting the most talented.
Scott Salmirs
August 25, 2021
Learn about Scott Salmirs' journey, the history of ABM Industries, labor unions, and more.
Roberto Campos Neto
July 8, 2021
Brazil’s Central Bank President Roberto Campos Neto outlined a range of innovations to the financial system that have helped the country effectively adjust to two waves of the COVID-19 virus.
Sal Khan
Sal Khan discussed the humble origins of Khan Academy, which began with him tutoring his younger cousins. He also shared the highs and lows of his journey as an entrepreneur, the accelerated growth of the Academy’s online courses and assessment, and the impact of COVID in aggravating learning loss among children.
Greg Longstreet
Greg Longstreet speaks about the brand’s revitalization since 2017, the marketing campaign that turned the company around, the future of work at the office, and product innovations during COVID.
Bracken Darrell
April 13, 2021
Bracken Darrell, president and CEO of Logitech, stressed design thinking, continuous innovation and risk management as a leadership quality.
Mark Schneider
March 31, 2021
Mark Sneider, leader of the world's largest company in the food industry, talks about the challenges and opportunities that the COVID-19 pandemic presented, what it's like to be at the helm of such a large company, and Nestlé's path toward a more sustainable future.
Ajay Banga
The head of Mastercard told a virtual audience that his company’s success for the past decade is because of “a healthy dose of good luck,” the global shift toward a cashless society, and a workplace culture that promotes financial inclusion as a social compact.
Ilene S. Gordon and Bram Bluestein
Listen to Ilene S. Gordon, former chairwoman, president and CEO of Ingredion Incorporated, and Bram Bluestein, co-founder and chairman of Bluestein Ventures, on the joys and challenges of being a business power couple.
Mark Read
In this Distinguished Leaders Lecture Series, Miami Herbert Business School talks about The Future of Advertising, Marketing and Brands with Mark Read, one of the world's top digital influencers.
Robert Isom
In a virtual conversation about leadership, Robert Isom, president of American Airlines, emphasized the industry’s resiliency and purpose while detailing the changes being made to improve safety and customer satisfaction.
Kevin Sneader
Kevin Sneader, global managing partner of McKinsey & Company, joined the Miami Herbert community to discuss his leadership journey, navigating the COVID-19 crisis, supporting diversity and inclusion, and his views on the future of the global economy.
Brian Moynihan
Brian Moynihan shares wisdom gleaned while leading the nation’s second-largest bank through a pandemic and his perspective about being resilient during difficult times.
Alex Azar
U.S. health secretary discusses the administration’s effort to restructure the health care system to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and support countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Patrick Steel
Patrick Steel, the chief executive officer of Politico, emphasizes that being “myopically focused” on delivering solely news on politics and policy and the public’s hunger for non-partisan news has buoyed the success of the digital news platform.
Jorge Paulo Lemann
Jorge Paulo Lemann, among the world’s most successful investors and wealthiest people, celebrates the value of taking risks in business and in life and shared how his foundation is helping fuel an educational revolution in some of Brazil’s poorest cities.
Scott Galloway
Galloway discusses how we have "starched the surplus social good from education" as the cost of education becomes exponentially more expensive and opportunities incrementally decrease.
LECTURE SERIES PLAYLIST
For more past speakers featured in our Distinguished Leaders Lecture Series, follow the link below.