Featured Speakers at 20th Annual Leadership 100 Conference
Ted Leonsis, one of the country’s premier business entrepreneurs, Peter Diamandis, the celebrated space pioneer, John McKesson Camp II, noted archaeologist, and Michael Psilakis, Executive Chef, are the featured speakers at the 20th Annual Leadership 100 Conference at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida, February 24-27, 2011.
Leonsis, a member of Leadership 100, is the founder, chairman and majority owner of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which comprises three professional sports teams – the Washington Capitals (NHL), the Washington Wizards (NBA) and the Washington Mystics (WNBA) – as well as Verizon Center and the Baltimore-Washington Ticketmaster franchise. The company also operates Kettler Capitals Iceplex (the Capitals’ training facility and front office) and George Mason University’s Patriot Center. He retired from active management of AOL in 2006, where during the previous 13 years he held a number of senior positions, including vice chairman and president. He retains the position of Vice Chairman Emeritus.
Dr. Peter Diamandis is a pioneer in the commercial space industry. He is the Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, which leads the world in designing and launching large incentive prizes to drive radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. Best known for the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for private spaceflight and the $10 million Progressive Automotive X PRIZE for 100 mile-per-gallon equivalent cars, the Foundation is now launching prizes in Exploration, Life Sciences, Energy, and Education.
Diamandis is also an international leader in the commercial space arena, having founded and run many of the leading entrepreneurial companies in this sector including Zero Gravity Corporation, the Rocket Racing League and Space Adventures.
John McKesson Camp II, a noted archaeologist, is a graduate of Harvard University where he studied the Classics; he earned an MA and PhD in Classical Archaeology from Princeton University. He has taught at Princeton, the ASCS in Athens, DePauw University, Lake Forest College, St. John’s University, University of Maryland and Randolph-Macon College, where he is currently Stavros Niarchos Foundation Professor of Classics as of 2009. He has led or participated in excavationsat the Athenian Agora, Corinth, Isthmia, Pylos, Epidauros, Naxos, Koilada (underwater), and Athens.
Executive Chef Michael Psilakis has acquired many of the food world’s highest honors in the short time he has been on the culinary scene. In 2008 alone, Psilakis was awarded Food & Wine’s Best New Chef and Bon Appetit’s Chef of the Year distinctions; nominated for A-List Chef by Bravo TV; and had his upscale Greek restaurant, Anthos, nominated for a James Beard Award in the category of Best New Restaurant. He was also named “Chef of the Year” by Esquire Magazine and his restaurant Anthos was awarded a Michelin star and named the third of ten best new restaurants by The New York Times restaurant reviewer, Frank Bruni.
