Career:Bestselling author, strategic advisor, innovation activist dubbed “Mr. Creativity” by The Economist; Chairmen & CEO EdgeMakers; Chairman ILSI Interests:Jazz, Film & Theater (actively!). Unpeeling the onion, reinvention of education, innovation at societal scale. Hometown: San Francisco, USA
John Kao was born in 1950 to Chinese immigrant parents. An accomplished jazz pianist, he spent the summer of 1969 playing keyboards for Frank Zappa. Kao studied philosophy at Yale College, received an MD from Yale Medical School, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He taught at Harvard Business School from 1982-96, where he specialized in innovation and entrepreneurship and created executive and MBA programs on innovation. He has also held faculty appointments at the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMedia Lab, Yale College, and the Naval Postgraduate School.
John is a leader in creating and delivering high end innovation leadership executive programs for both public and private sectors. He is chairman of the Institute for Large Scale Innovation, whose i20 group is an association of 30 national ‘Chief Innovation Officers.’ John coined the term “large scale innovation” to refer to innovation as a societal agenda. He has advised numerous nations and regions on innovation strategy and execution, including Finland, Singapore, the City of San Francisco, Abu Dhabi and elements of the US government as well as the European Union innovation policy team.
His advisory work for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was described in The New York Times as “out of the box”
Career:Orchestra Conductor, Opera Director and Producer Interests: Literature, Philosophy, Cinema, Sports Hometown: * South Germany, based in Berlin; temp. Vermont, USA&Ecuador
Opera director Christoph Hagel is known for his modern adaptations of classical operas, his mixing of genres and performances in unusual venues. Former performances include Mozart’s The Magic Flute in an underground station, Cos fan Tutte at a former electrical substation and techno club as well as Flying Bach at the Neue Nationalgalerie.
His latest project is the Berlin premiere of Mozarts 1791 opera Titus at the Bode Museum. The tragic triangle of love and death is Hagel’s third opera staging at the Bode Museum. The three main characters are interpreted simultaneously by a singer and an actor respectivley, and spoken theatre scenes are added. Solo dancer Martin Buczko from the Staatsballett Berlin ensemble dances the part of Sesto. The music is provided by the Berlin Symphoniker.
Beside his Berlin events he conducts several south American symphonic orchestras and is engaged in musical education projects in different South American towns. Starting 2010 he is the director of the opera singing program at Middelbury College in Vermont/USA.
In September 2010 Christoph received the ECHO Klassik award in the category “Special Award of the Jury”.
Career: Orchestral Conducter, Maestro, Leadership Coach Interests: Art (from ancient to contemporary), Haiku Poetry and Literature in general, People – in particular, how we exchange important messages … Hometowns: Tel-Aviv, Israel; Amsterdam, Netherlands; temp. Transsilvania, Romania
Itay Talgam is one of the leading figures in the Israeli music scene. He is a champion of contemporary music, and in particular music of contemporary Israeli composers. He is internationally renowned for developing the ‘Maestro program’, that explores the relationship between conductor, musician and audience to achieve inspiring new insights into leadership, management, and team work. Using a range of innovative techniques, these energetic and thought-provoking programmes challenge standard thinking and offer participants a fresh perspective on a range of organisational issues and work styles.
