Previous Keynote Speakers

New York Times bestselling author and hospitality entrepreneur, Chip Conley is a leader at the forefront of the sharing economy. No one has led the development, creation, and management of more boutique hotels than Chip, founder and former CEO of Joie de Vivre. During his nearly 24 years as CEO, Joie de Vivre grew to become the second largest boutique hotel companies in America. In 2013, Chip accepted an invitation from the founders of Airbnb to help transform their promising home sharing start-up into the world’s largest hospitality brand. In four years as Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality & Strategy, he taught his award-winning methods to hundreds of thousands of Airbnb hosts and created the world-renowned Airbnb Open. Chip’s books share his theories on transformation and meaning – in business and life – and he has also been a featured speaker at TED.

His next book, WISDOM@WORK: The Making of a Modern Elder, comes out in September and shares Chip’s experiences from his tenure at Airbnb. Immediately following his keynote, Chip will be providing all Zumapalooza attendees with a copy of his next book and will be available for a book signing from 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM.

Bert Jacobs is Co-founder and CEO (Chief Executive Optimist) of The Life is Good Company, which spreads the power of optimism through inspiring art, a passionate community, and groundbreaking nonprofit work. Bert and his brother John launched their business with $78 in their pockets, selling t-shirts in the streets of Boston. Today, Life is Good is a $100 million positive lifestyle brand sold by over 4,000 retailers across the US and Canada.

Bert worked as a ski instructor and pizza delivery guy in Vail, CO before teaming with his brother John to design and sell T-shirts in college dorms up and down the East Coast. After five years traveling in their van together, the brothers officially launched Life is Good.

Bert focuses his energy on guiding the Life is Good brand vision, and developing strategic partnerships and collaborations with organizations that extend the Life is Good brand to new product categories and customers. He enjoys live music, travel, and surfing. His shoes do not always match.

To inspire others to choose optimism and grow the good in their lives, Bert and John wrote Life is Good: The Book/ How to Live with Purpose and Enjoy the Ride, published by National Geographic in September 2015.

Bert has been awarded honorary doctorates from several universities for entrepreneurship, business innovation and philanthropy. He and Life is Good have been featured on CNNMoney, CNBC’s Business Nation, ABC News’ Nightline, NBC’s The Today Show, and in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, and Men’s Health Magazine, among others.

Bert and John are the youngest of six siblings from Needham, MA. They credit their mother as the first powerful optimist in their lives, and the inspiration for Life is Good.

During fitness training near his hometown in June 1988, John was hit by an 8 tonne truck as he rode his bike. The impact resulted in John suffering multiple breaks to his pelvis and back, a fractured sternum, punctured lungs, a broken arm, and left John a paraplegic. It took astonishing courage and determination, but somehow this near-fatal accident was the making of him. Despite the grief of what he had lost, the excruciating physical pain and the challenges of daily life in a wheelchair, John decided he would become bigger and stronger than ever.

“In business and in life, we all face obstacles and crossroads. While my 25-year story seems like an extreme account of setbacks and facing up to them, the message is not about those obstacles, or how they got there, more about learning to see challenges, or adversity if you like, and welcoming it as a fuel to feed off . Any of the great people I have met have harnessed adversity and turned it into an energy that allows them to achieve so much more. All of us can do that, we simply have to make that choice.”

After spending twelve years at Harvard University, Shawn Achor has become one of the world’s leading experts on the connection between happiness and success. His research on mindset made the cover of Harvard Business Review, his TED talk is one of the most popular of all time with over 13 million views, and his lecture airing on PBS has been seen by millions. Shawn has lectured or worked with over a third of the Fortune 100 companies, as well as the NFL, the NBA, the Pentagon and the White House. Shawn is the author of New York Times best-selling books The Happiness Advantage (2010) and Before Happiness (2013). He has now lectured in more than 50 countries speaking to CEOs in China, doctors in Dubai, schoolchildren in South Africa, and farmers in Zimbabwe. His Happiness Advantage training is one of the largest and most successful positive psychology corporate training programs in the world. Shawn’s research has been published in the top psychology journal for work he did at UBS in partnership with Yale University to transform how stress impacts the body, and he recently did a two-hour interview with Oprah at her house to discuss his mission to bring positive psychology to the world.

Gary Vaynerchuk is the chairman of VaynerX, a modern-day media and communications holding company and the active CEO of VaynerMedia, a full-service advertising agency servicing Fortune 100 clients across the company’s 4 locations.

In addition to VaynerMedia, VaynerX also includes Gallery Media Group, which houses women’s lifestyle brand PureWow and men’s lifestyle brand ONE37pm. In addition to running VaynerMedia, Gary also serves as a partner in the athlete representation agency VaynerSports, cannabis-focused branding and marketing agency Green Street and restaurant reservations app Resy.

Gary is a board/advisory member of Ad Council and Pencils of Promise, and is a longtime Well Member of Charity:Water.

Gary is a highly sought after public speaker, a 5-time New York Times bestselling author, as well as a prolific angel investor with early investments in companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Venmo, and Uber.

Gary is currently the subject of DailyVee, an online documentary series highlighting what it’s like to be a CEO and public figure in today’s digital world, as well the host of The GaryVee Audio Experience, a top 100 global podcast, and host of #AskGaryVee, a business and advice Q&A show which can be found on both YouTube and Facebook.

Gary also appeared as judge in Apple’s first original series “Planet of the Apps” alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Alba and Will.i.am.