Past Speakers

The Pittburgh Speakers Series presents some of the world’s most celebrated and influential personalities of our time, a virtual Who’s Who of National and global figures - heads of state, political leaders, newsmakers, innovators and cultural icons, each sharing their unique experiences and perspectives as they challenge your mind, enlarge your world and make you laugh. These are our past speakers:

2022-2023

Loretta Lynch
John Brennan
Maria Ressa
Erik Larson
Tom Friedman
Scott Kelly
Anthony Ray Hinton

2021-2022

John Bolton
Platon
Walter Isaacson
Mara Liasson
Jamie Metzl
Theresa May
Bill Nye

2019–2020

John Kerry
Zanny Minton Beddoes
Bob Woodward
Douglas Brinkley
Peter Diamandis
Susan Rice
Jason Alexander

2018–2019

James Comey
Lisa Genova
Gloria Steinem
Jeb Bush
Ian Bremmer
Bryan Stevenson
Jay Leno

2017–2018

David Cameron
Jeffrey Toobin
Jane Pauley
Robin Wright
Rick Steves
Newt Gingrich
Mark Kelly and
Gabby Giffords

2016–2017

Rita Moreno
Ehud Barak
Michel Martin, Jason Riley and Morris Dees
John Cleese
Martin Dempsey
Ted Koppel
Jon Meacham

2015–2016

John Irving
Sanjay Gupta
Dennis Ross
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Diana Nyad
Leon Panetta
Dave Barry

2014–2015

Alan Alda
Julia Gillard
Robert Mueller
Arianna Huffington
P.W. Singer
David McCullough
Michio Kaku

2013–2014

George Papandreou
Bill Bryson
Robert Gates
Steve Wozniak
Olympia Snowe
Dan Rather
Doris Kearns Goodwin

2012–2013

President Bill Clinton
Jon Huntsman, Jr.
Lisa Ling
Erskine Bowles
Jeannette Walls
Vicente Fox
Nando Parrado

2011–2012

Ron Chernow
Michelle Rhee
Valerie Plame Wilson and Joe Wilson
Michael Pollan
Azar Nafisi
Stanley McChrystal
Tom Brokaw

2010–2011

Thomas Friedman
Elizabeth Gilbert
Ben Carson
Charles Krauthammer
F.W. de Klerk
Mark Shields
Karl Rove and Howard Dean

2009–2010

Pervez Musharraf
Jean-Michel Cousteau
Laura Bush
Robert Reich
Mia Farrow
David Brooks
Greg Mortenson

2008–2009

Steve Forbes
Paul Rusesabagina
Garrison Keillor
Anna Quindlen
Bob Woodward
Jane Goodall
David McCullough

2007–2008

Aron Ralston
George Will
Christiane Amanpour
Madeleine Albright Salman Rushdie
Frank McCourt
The Capitol Steps

2006–2007

Nora Ephron
James Lovell
Colin Powell
Paul Bremer
Michael Medved
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Ari Fleischer

2005–2006

Beck Weathers
Robert Redford
Bill Moyers
John Major
Robert Ballard
Mark Russell
Christine Todd Whitman

2004–2005

Henry Kissinger
James Carville
Mary Higgins Clark
Ehud Barak
Frank Abagnale
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Dave Barry

2003–2004

Rudy Giuliani
Elie Wiesel
Amy Tan
Julian Bond
Cokie Roberts
David Gergen
David McCullough

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