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Walter Isaacson is the Leonard Lauder Professor of American History and Values at Tulane. He is the past CEO of the Aspen Institute, where he is now a Distinguished Fellow, and has been the chairman of CNN and the editor of TIME magazine. Walter Isaacson is the bestselling author of Elon Musk; The Code Breaker; Leonardo da Vinci; The Innovators; Steve Jobs; Einstein: His Life and Universe; Benjamin Franklin: An American Life; and Kissinger: A Biography, and the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. Isaacson was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2023.He is a host of the show “Amanpour and Company” on PBS and CNN, a contributor to CNBC, and host of the podcast “Trailblazers, from Dell Technologies.”He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society of the Arts, and the American Philosophical Society. He is a fellow of Lowell House at Harvard and of Pembroke College at Oxford. He serves on the board of United Airlines, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Society of American Historians, New Schools for New Orleans, the U.S. Defense Department Innovation Board, and My Brother’s Keeper Alliance. He is an advisory partner at Perella Weinberg, a financial services firm based in New York City.
Michael Sandel teaches political philosophy at Harvard University. His books–on justice, democracy, ethics, and markets–have been translated into more than 30 languages. He has been described as “a rock star moralist” (Newsweek) and “the world’s most influential living philosopher.” (New Statesman)
Sandel’s recent book, The Tyranny of Merit: Can We Find the Common Good?, seeks a way beyond the polarized politics of our time. His previous books include Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? and What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets. A new edition of his classic book Democracy’s Discontent has been described as “essential–and ultimately hopeful–reading for all those who wonder if our democratic experiment will survive in the twenty-first century.”
Sandel’s free online course “Justice” has been viewed by tens of millions of people. His BBC series “The Global Philosopher” explores the ethical issues lying behind the headlines with participants from around the world. Sandel’s lectures have packed such venues as St. Paul’s Cathedral (London), the Sydney Opera House (Australia), the Delacorte Theater in New York’s Central Park, and an outdoor stadium in Seoul (S. Korea), where 14,000 came to hear him speak.