Keynote Speaker/Lunch

Steve Forbes, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media

Steve Forbes is Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media, the technology driven global media and branding company.

Forbes.com has become one of the world's most influential websites, with nearly 60 million unique visitors a month.

The company's flagship publication, Forbes, is the nation's leading business magazine, with a readership of 6.2 million in the U.S. The company's 38 local editions around the world, including Forbes Asia, together have a circulation of almost 1.2 million.

Mr. Forbes writes editorials for Forbes under the heading of "Fact and Comment." A widely respected economic prognosticator, he is the only writer to have won the highly prestigious Crystal Owl Award four times. The prize was formerly given by U.S. Steel Corporation to the financial journalist whose economic forecasts for the coming year proved most accurate.

In both 1996 and 2000, Mr. Forbes campaigned vigorously for the Republican nomination for the Presidency. Key to his platform were a flat tax, medical savings accounts, a new Social Security system for working Americans, parental choice of schools for their children, term limits and a strong national defense. Mr. Forbes continues to energetically promote this agenda.

Mr. Forbes' most recent book is Reviving America: How Repealing Obamacare, Replacing the Tax Code and Reforming the Fed will Restore Hope and Prosperity, co-authored by Elizabeth Ames (McGraw-Hill Professional).

His other books include Money: How the Destruction of the Dollar Threatens the Global Economy - and What We Can Do About It, co-authored by Elizabeth Ames (McGraw-Hill Professional); Freedom Manifesto: Why Free Markets are Moral and Big Government lsn't, co­-authored by Elizabeth  Ames (Crown Business, August 2012);  How Capitalism Will Save Us: Why Free People and Free Markets Are the Best Answer in Today's Economy, co-authored by Elizabeth Ames (Crown Business, November 2009); and  Power Ambition Glory: The Stunning Parallels between Great Leaders of the Ancient World and Today ... and the lessons You Can Learn, co-authored by John Prevas (Crown Business, June 2009). He also wrote: Flat Tax Revolution: Using a Postcard to Abolish the IRS (Regnery, 2005); and A New Birth of Freedom (Regnery, 1999), a book of bold ideas for the new millennium.

In 1985, President Reagan named Mr. Forbes Chairman of the bi-partisan Board for International Broadcasting (BIB). In this position, he oversaw the operations of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. Broadcasting behind the Iron Curtain, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty were praised by Poland's Lech Walesa as being critical to the struggle against communism. Mr. Forbes was reappointed to his post by President George H. W. Bush and served until 1993.

Mr. Forbes serves on the boards of The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and the Heritage Foundation. He is on the Board of Overseers of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He previously served on the Board of Trustees of Princeton University for ten years.

Steve Forbes was born on July 18, 1947, in Morristown, New Jersey.  He received a B.A. in history from Princeton in 1970.