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:
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
2002–2003
Benjamin Netanyahu
Walter Cronkite
Ken Burns
Beverly Sills
Benazir Bhutto
Frank McCourt
Richard Holbrooke
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