Meet Our Speakers
Steve wozniak
Special Guest Presentation
Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026
A Silicon Valley icon and philanthropist for more than thirty years, Steve Wozniak has helped shape the computing industry with his design of Apple’s first line of products the Apple I and II. He also influenced the popular Macintosh. In 1976, Wozniak and Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer Inc. with Wozniak’s Apple I personal computer. The following year, he introduced his Apple II personal computer, featuring a central processing unit, a keyboard, color graphics, and a floppy disk drive. The Apple II was integral in launching the personal computer industry.
In 1981, he went back to UC Berkeley and finished his degree in electrical engineering/computer science. For his achievements at Apple, Wozniak was awarded the National Medal of Technology by the president of the United States in 1985, the highest honor bestowed on America’s leading innovators.
In 2000, he was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame and was awarded the prestigious Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy and Employment for single-handedly designing the first personal computer and for then redirecting his lifelong passion for mathematics and electronics toward lighting the fires of excitement for education in grade school students and their teachers.
Through the years, Wozniak has been involved in various business and philanthropic ventures, focusing primarily on computer capabilities in schools and stressing hands-on learning and encouraging creativity for students. Making significant investments of both his time and resources in education, he adopted the Los Gatos School District, providing students and teachers with hands-on teaching and donations of state-of-the-art technology equipment. He founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and was the founding sponsor of the Tech Museum, Silicon Valley Ballet and Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose. In 2014, he was awarded the Hoover Medal, a prestigious honor given for “outstanding extra-career services by engineers to humanity,” and was inducted into the IndustryWeek Manufacturing Hall of Fame.
Wozniak is a published author with the release of his New York Times best-selling autobiography, iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon by Norton Publishing. His television appearances include: ABC’s Dancing with the Stars and The Big Bang Theory, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Conan, and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. In October 2017, Steve co-founded Woz U.
Verne Harnish
Keynote Presentation
Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026
Verne Harnish is founder of the world-renowned Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), with more than 18,000 members world-wide, and founded and chaired for 15 years EO’s premiere CEO program held at MIT, a program in which he still teaches today.
Founder and CEO of Scaling Up, a global executive education and coaching company with over 290 partners on six continents, Harnish has spent the past four decades helping companies scaleup.
He is the author of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits; authored The Greatest Business Decisions of All Times, for which Jim Collins wrote the foreword. He also is the co-author of Scaling Up Compensation and wrote Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) which has been translated into 26 languages and has won eight major international book awards, including the International Book Award for Best General Business book. His latest book is Start to Scale.
Harnish serves on several boards including as vice chair of The Riordan Clinic, co-founder and chair of Geoversit,; and board member of the social venture Million Dollar Women. A private investor in many scaleups, Harnish enjoys piano, tennis, and magic as a card-carrying member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.