Ken Boynton
Ken Boynton is a writer and creative director whose work spans story, stage, and message. He grew up in a performance and writing world and later built a career helping leaders communicate clearly at scale—often by making the story do the heavy lifting. Don’t miss Ken in Essay 4.5 | Crafting Stories, where his influence is felt most directly in the book’s thinking about story, meaning, and what makes an idea travel.

Chris Capossela
Chris Capossela is a longtime marketing leader who spent thirty-three years at Microsoft and served as Chief Marketing Officer for his final eleven years there. He grew up in Boston’s North End in a multigenerational Italian American family above his parents’ restaurant, and he applied early computing to real-world problems—building a reservation system and selling it to other restaurants. Don’t miss Chris in Essay 1.2 | Kairos Moments, especially the unforgettable “There’s only Microsoft” moment that turns a leadership transition into a lived story.

John Donahoe
John Donahoe is a technology and consumer-brand executive recognized for scaling organizations through periods of rapid change. He was President and CEO of Nike from January 2020 to October 2024, following his tenure as President and CEO of ServiceNow (2017–2019). Earlier, he led eBay as President and CEO and spent more than two decades at Bain & Company, including as CEO; he has also served as chair of PayPal’s board and is now Stanford University’s athletic director. Don’t miss John in Essay 3.3 | Future-Focused, where his eBay Live story becomes a lesson in meeting a room where it is and inviting it toward a shared future.

Sharon Gillenwater
Sharon Gillenwater is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Boardroom Insiders. She founded the company after repeatedly seeing tech teams struggle to communicate effectively in C-suite conversations. After running it for fourteen years, she sold it in 2021; she now publishes business content and is building around her book Scaling with Soul. Don’t miss Sharon in Essay 2.3 | Participating, where she broadens participation beyond the loudest voices and makes room for the quiet listener too.

Nellie Greely
Nellie Greely is an events and marketing leader whose career spans startups, associations, and enterprise organizations. With roots in product marketing, she has led large-scale global experiences shaped by a belief that shared moments can foster community, curiosity, and connection across cultures and generations, and create lasting value for both audiences and organizations. Don’t miss Nellie in Essay 2.3 | Participating, where she draws the line between passive attendance and genuine engagement.

Kevin Haverty
Kevin Haverty is a sales leader at his core and a former worldwide sales executive/Chief Revenue Officer. He built his career through early sales roles into enterprise tech leadership, and he carries a clear belief that a great event must be both a community moment and worth the time—otherwise it can create negative fallout. Don’t miss Kevin in Essay 2.3 | Participating, especially the unforgettable “ITSM” / “PRO!” story.

Drew Ianni
Drew Ianni is an entrepreneur and community-builder whose career has centered on convening. He grew up in San Jose, came of age during the early web era, and later helped lead and launch event/media properties (including AdTech). He then built additional platforms and communities. Don’t miss Drew in Essay 2.1 | Hosting, where he describes every gathering—whether four people or twelve thousand—through the lens of “my house” and “my guests.”

Kenny Lauer
Kenny Lauer is a leader in the areas of experience design and relationship building who has built executive and brand experiences across his career, including as Vice President of Marketing for the Golden State Warriors. He has worked in roles centered on executive connection and presence, and he describes “presence” as a practical skill: making people feel like they matter in the room. Don’t miss Kenny in Essay 1.4 | Hearts, Heads, and Hands, where his line “heart first, wallet second” captures the emotional truth behind lasting engagement.

Alan Marks
Alan Marks is a communications and branding leader. He began his career in journalism and later moved into corporate communications, marketing, branding, and storytelling at companies ranging from Avon to Nike to eBay, with a recurring focus on purpose and culture. Don’t miss Alan in Essay 1.2 | Kairos Moments, where he offers one of the clearest definitions in the book: an event is about human connection and shared outcome.

Leasa Mayer
Leasa Mayer is a longtime events executive and former agency owner. She began in Seattle in an entry role at CRG Events, spending decades growing and leading the business. She sold it in 2019 and later moved into coaching while remaining on the board of the company as it expanded. Don’t miss Leasa in Essay 4.1 | Steering Committee, where the book’s respect for craft, discipline, and trust becomes especially visible.

Chris Meyer
Chris Meyer is the CEO of Project Worldwide, an employee-owned alliance of 14 diverse creative agencies spanning 42 markets. Before taking the helm in 2024 to champion cross-agency collaboration and human-led AI, he served as the long-standing CEO of the experiential powerhouse George P. Johnson (GPJ), transforming it into an innovation-driven global leader. Committed to sharing his expertise beyond the agency world, he frequently guest lectures on marketing at leading universities, including his alma mater, Cornell University, operating under the guiding philosophy that success is never the work of one person alone. Don’t miss Chris in Essay 2.3 | Participating, especially the small but memorable “next participant” story that becomes a reflection on what language asks of people in a room.

Samuel Naldi
Samuel Naldi is a Swiss-Italian business leader shaped by the luxury/watch ecosystem. He was born in Lausanne in 1991 to Italian parents and grew up across language regions of Switzerland; his early exposure to watch launches and Baselworld helped shape his view of how much business happens around the formal program. Don’t miss Samuel in Essay 1.1 | Acts of Humanity, where the Baselworld story shows how a single recurring gathering can shape a life.

Mary Ann Pierce
Mary Ann Pierce is the founder of MAP Digital and a communications leader with a career spanning film, theater, and marketing. She was born in New York City, moved to Philadelphia at age ten, studied film, and later worked across time-based arts and direct response marketing; she frames events as a communications vehicle and an art form grounded in audience experience. Don’t miss Mary Ann in Essay 4.10 | How Did We Do?, where the book’s view of events as both a communications vehicle and an art form comes into sharper focus.

David Schneider
David Schneider is the past President of ServiceNow and former Vice President Sales /Chief Revenue Officer at numerous hypergrowth companies, including ServiceNow, Data Domain, and EMC. He is now General Partner at Coatue, leading their private investments team and helping to build the next set of generational technology companies. Don’t miss David in Essay 1.2 | Kairos Moments, especially the story of bringing a founder back on stage in what became “the best audible of my professional career.”

Mike Sheehy
Mike Sheehy is a longtime sales and customer success leader at ServiceNow and a former chief of staff to the global Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). He grew up in South Boston and built a career in enterprise sales leadership, working across steering and operating mechanisms behind major programs and large internal events. Don’t miss Mike in Essay 2.1 | Hosting, where he talks about recognizing not only top performers but the families who helped make that success possible.

Christoph Tessmar
Christoph Tessmar is an events leader in Barcelona’s convention ecosystem. He began his career in Germany in pharma in the late 1980s, moved to Barcelona before the 1992 Olympics, and later worked in corporate congress and city-level convention activity; he also speaks directly to the “citizen” dimension of events—cities as lived places, not just venues. 

Avery Vise
Avery Vise is a journalist-turned-analyst as Vice President of Trucking at FTR Transportation Intelligence, and a commentator whose work has intersected with events through speaking and media. He was born in Alabama, spent sixteen years in Washington DC, attended Georgetown, built a long journalism career, and later moved into analysis and public-facing work (including podcasting). Don’t miss Avery in Essay 1.2 | Kairos Moments, where he describes the annual trucking gathering everybody attends because everybody attends—and why that shared gravity matters.