Past Speakers

The Baltimore 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
Jon Meacham
Jane Pauley
Robin Wright
Rick Steves
Mark Kelly and
Gabby Giffords
Paul Nicklen

2016–2017

Justice Stephen Breyer
Ehud Barak
Rita Moreno
John Cleese
Martin Dempsey
Ted Koppel
Michele Norris, Jason Riley and Morris Dees

2015–2016

Leon Panetta
Sanjay Gupta
Michio Kaku
Diana Nyad
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
John Irving
Dennis Ross

2014–2015

Alan Alda
Julia Gillard
Ken Burns
Olympia Snowe
David Gergen
David McCullough
Dan Rather

2013–2014

Bill Bryson
George Papandreou
Robert Gates
Steve Wozniak
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Jon Huntsman, Jr.
Dave Barry

2012–2013

President Bill Clinton
Jeannette Walls
Lisa Ling
P. W. Singer
Erskine Bowles
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
Frank Abagnale
Peggy Noonan
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
Bob Woodward
Anna Quindlen
Jane Goodall
David McCullough

2007–2008

Robert Ballard
Ben Carson
Cokie Roberts
Madeleine Albright
Salman Rushdie
Frank McCourt
The Capitol Steps

2006–2007

Amy Tan
James Lovell
Colin Powell
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Michael Medved
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Beck Weathers

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