TEDxApex

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check the event website for the latest lineup.

• Ajai Kumar

  Executive Leader

  After more than three decades in global technology leadership, TEDx speaker, award-winning author, and podcaster Ajai Kumar now helps organizations and individuals create purposeful growth, stronger leadership, and lasting impact. Drawing from a unique intersection of corporate experience, inner transformation, and service-driven leadership, his work focuses on how thoughts, words, and actions shape human potential and influence the world around us.

• April Martini

  Founder and Consultant

  April Martini is a TEDx speaker, certified life coach, and US Army veteran who challenges people to ask a harder question: authentic to what? After 18 years in corporate leadership, she left to build a practice rooted in a simple but uncomfortable truth, most people are living a story they never chose. Her TEDx talk, "The Risk of Being Unknown," is an invitation to become an examined leader: to stop running on autopilot and start making a conscious choice about who you actually are.

• Brandon Knight

  Technology Evangelism

  Brandon Knight is an author, keynote speaker, leadership subject-matter expert, thought leader, culture advocate, board member, and podcast host. He is the founder and chief executive for FREIDDD®, a decision-making model built for today’s AI world. And the Global Head of CX Technology Evangelism at ZOOM. Across 35+ years of leadership, Brandon has served Fortune 1000 companies and held CX leadership roles with major brands and channel organizations. In addition to holding a Master's Degree, his background spans Zoom, Humana, Travelers, Sprint, Intelisys, Telarus, CX-Sherpa, Exceptional Contact Centers, and more. His book “FREIDDD YOUR MIND” is the blueprint for making Financially Responsible, Emotionally Intelligent, Data-Driven-Decisions in our AI world.

• Camilo I. Zambrano

  Software Engineer

  "Camilo Zambrano is the voice behind Self Disciplined, a newsletter that challenges the idea of discipline by reframing it as the practice of returning to what matters. He is also the creator of Adaptable Discipline, a framework designed to help individuals engineer the conditions that make return possible when they drift. With experience building systems at scale as a software engineer at companies including Amazon and Shopify, Camilo brings a systems lens to human behavior. His work connects systems theory, neuroscience, behavioral science, and psychology to explore why we drift and how we can train to get back on track."

• Doug Noll

  Founder and Professor

  Douglas E. Noll, JD, MA is a trusted advisor to founder-led companies, family offices, and privately held equity-backed companies facing governance drift and decisional drag due to unresolved human dynamics. He is an award-winning author, teacher, trainer, and highly experienced mediator. His work has included teaching life inmates to be peacemakers and mediators in maximum-security prisons and training analysts at the Congressional Budget Office on how to de-escalate members of Congress and staff. His website is https://dougnoll.com. His TEDx talk is about the transformative power of listening others into existence using two words: "You feel."

• Doug Zarkin

  Chief Brand Officer

  Doug Zarkin is a 2026 Adweek Marketing Vanguard Award honoree, bestselling author of Moving Your Brand Out of the Friend Zone, and award-winning brand leader known for transforming brands into culturally relevant growth engines. Among his accomplishments, he scaled Victoria’s Secret PINK into a $400M+ lifestyle brand and led the rejuvenation of Pearle Vision. Creator of the “Thinking Human” philosophy, Doug explores how consumer psychology, storytelling, culture, and human connection influence decisions, shape loyalty, and drive lasting business growth and relevance.

• Dr. Diana Joy Ostroff

  Naturopathic Physician

  Dr. Diana Joy Ostroff is the founder of the Center for Natural Healing Hawaii. She has practiced naturopathic medicine and traditional Chinese medicine on Oahu since 1989. Inspired by her own healing journey, she pursued decades of study in naturopathy, acupuncture, nutrition, psychology, meditation, and Hawaiian healing arts, including advanced training in Asia and Europe. Over 38 years, she has treated tens of thousands of patients and authored three books. An international speaker and retreat leader, Dr. Ostroff’s work focuses on the powerful connection between food, mindset, and the body’s innate ability to heal itself.

• Dr. Greg Stewart

  Consultant

  Dr. Greg Stewart lives in Rockwall, TX and is currently a full-time telehealth counselor, executive coach, and consultant. He has a BA in Organizational Leadership (Cornerstone University), a Master of Divinity (Grand Rapids Theological Seminary), a MA in Counseling (GRTS), and a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision (Regent U). His dissertation was The Relationship of Emotional Intelligence to Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment. He wrote a trilogy on his concept of I3 – Information, Interpretation, Intensity. The first is I3: Unlock the Inner Strength Behind Your Negative Emotions. His second: I3 for Couples: Facing Our Negative Emotions to Build Intimacy in Marriage. And his third: I3 for Leaders: Unleash the Rage of Negative Emotions Against the Obstacles of Becoming More.

• Eli Bowman

  Founder and CEO

  Eli Bowman is an international speaker, NLP expert, national best-selling author, and creator of 75 Mind. After building a portfolio of seven-figure companies while quietly losing himself in the process, Eli hit rock bottom and rebuilt his life using neuroscience, neuro-linguistic programming, and a framework he calls the Path of Purpose. He now helps people identify the unconscious programs running their lives and replace them with ones aligned with their authentic purpose. His work matters because most people are living someone else's life, and they don't yet know it.

• Everett Harper

  CASBS at Stanford Fellow and Author

  Everett Harper is a Fellow at Stanford’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS), Board Director at CARE, author of Move to the Edge, Declare It Center (Wiley), and former CEO. He is a rare combination of Black Silicon Valley software entrepreneur, NCAA National Champion, and student of AI strategy, network science and community systems. Everett’s keynote TedX challenges leaders to rethink today’s complex global challenges (polycrisis) through Connected Resilience—an organizational resilience approach that draws on Māori astronomy, network science, and pre-mortems. His work helps organizations and communities build sustainable, adaptive systems and solutions that benefit us all.

• John Kundly

  Associate Vice President

  John Kundly is a keynote speaker, author, and licensed Professional Engineer (P.E.) with more than two decades of experience leading high-performing teams across the consulting, utility, and construction industries. Known for driving results while building strong, human-centered cultures, he brings real-world credibility to every stage. As the founder of Reach With John, he delivers high-impact keynotes and workshops focused on confidence, communication, and purpose. His work—and TEDx talk—centers on helping people navigate uncertainty, overcome overthinking, and take action when the path forward isn’t clear. John is the author of Within Reach: Your Journey to Being Likable, Hirable, and Mostly Sane, inspiring audiences to turn setbacks into strategic advantages.

• Madhuri Govindu

  Licensed Counselor

  Madhuri Govindu is a licensed professional counselor, award-winning author, and Counseling Today contributor focused on trauma, veterans advocacy, and amplifying veterans’ voices. Through her clinical work and advocacy, she has helped thousands of veterans recover from PTSD, MST, CPTSD, and moral injury while working to bridge the civilian-veteran gap. Her work explores the emotional impact of military service, transition, and the invisible struggles many veterans face after leaving the military. In her TEDx talk, Madhuri challenges society’s understanding of gratitude and service, reframing what meaningful support and healing should look like beyond “thank you for your service.

• Nagham Wehbe

  President at Arts Consulting Group

  Nagham Wehbe is the President of Arts Consulting Group, where she leads strategic planning, organizational development, executive search, and leadership initiatives for arts and cultural institutions across North America. An artist, consultant, speaker, and executive coach, she supports organizations navigate transformation, strengthen culture, and lead through complexity with clarity and connection. Drawing from both her artistic practice and leadership work, her TEDx talk explores the power of listening, not simply as communication, but as one of the most overlooked and transformative forms of leadership.

• Richard Greene

  Author and Business Leader

  Richard Greene is an unrepentant humanist, TEDx Speaker, and CEO fo Clarus Advisors, where he helps mission-driven organizations strengthen culture, clarify strategy, and build effective leaders. With four decades of experience across business, nonprofits, and the executive suite, he brings strategic clarity and emotional intelligence to the stage and the boardroom. He is author of Building Value: The Five Keys for Achieving Success and Finding the Eye of the Storm -- books that address the outer architecture of great organizations and the personal foundation every leader builds from.

• Sam Ghanem

  Fractional CMO

  Sam Ghanem is a Best Friend, Fractional CMO, Brand Strategist, and TEDx speaker with 24 years of experience specializing in aligning print, messaging, marketing, and systems for scalable growth. As Founder of SG INK, she has partnered with Lockheed Martin, Danaher, Mercedes-Benz, and Thermo Fisher, delivering measurable results across industries. When Sam recognized she was truly contagious, she chose to become contagious on purpose - completely avoiding bankruptcy, drug rehab, and endless therapeutic modalities, taking her business from red to black in 90 days, and leaning into comedy and storytelling. The way we treat ourselves spreads into every room we walk into - her work exists to close that gap and invites in authentic congruence.

• Sara Cowan

  Founder and Consultant

  Sara Cowan is a speaker, communication strategist, and transformational advisor with more than 30 years of experience developing leaders, teams, and individuals in the areas of communication, leadership, personal development, and team retention. She is known for helping women move from stuck to done by turning their ideas, voice, and vision into meaningful impact.

• Shane Pope

  Founder

  Shane Pope is the founder of Reflect Technology, a company focused on using technology to advance human thriving. After struggling with his own mental health for years, Shane eventually received the life-changing care he needed. That experience led him to get extremely curious about how the brain processes and stores information. He sees technology as a tool for humans to use to their advantage, not something to replace and infringe on what makes us human. He is also building The Catalyst Community, a space for high-school and college students to come together to discuss all things technology, business, and mental health/wellness.

• Stacy Fritz

  Founder

  Stacy Fritz is the founder of FIT2order, a WBENC-certified corporate wellness company, and inventor of the vidaBALL®, a patented breathing device for stress relief. A TEDx speaker, ACE-certified trainer, and E-RYT 500 yoga instructor with over 20 years of experience, she has transformed workplace wellness programs across financial services, healthcare, and education. Stacy's work is rooted in a simple belief: that how you breathe is how you live-a truth she learned watching her brother navigate cancer.

• Tammie Ross

  General Contractor

  Tammie Ross is a leadership practitioner, nationally published author, and construction company founder whose work bridges bold leadership with real-world building. Her career spans corporate leadership, risk and compliance, and entrepreneurship, where she has led teams and navigated high-stakes environments that demand trust, accountability, and consistency.

• Zhenghong Gao

  BioTech Executive

  Dr. Zhenghong Gao is an internationally recognized scientist, drug developer, and biotech entrepreneur dedicated to transforming groundbreaking discoveries into life-saving therapies for patients worldwide. A trusted scientist-turned industry builder and cross-border strategist, he bridges the gap between pharma giants, cutting-edge biotechs, academia, and top-tier investors to translate early-stage breakthroughs into clinical realities. Driven by a patient-centric philosophy, Dr. Gao synergizes deep scientific expertise with strategic vision, utilizing data-driven dealmaking and high-impact alliances to spark global ecosystem collaboration and accelerate drug development. As a keynote speaker on platforms like TEDx, he champions a global vision to innovative medicine, focusing on delivering vital therapeutic breakthroughs to massive, historically underserved patient populations, especially rare diseases patients.