Speakers

Scott Gottlieb is a physician and served as the 23rd Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Gottlieb’s work focuses on advancing public health through developing and implementing innovative approaches to improving medical outcomes, reshaping healthcare delivery, and expanding consumer choice and safety. He is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a partner at the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates.

Dr. Gottlieb is an aggressive advocate for advancing the health of patients, promoting healthcare access, and driving innovation. The agency’s historic and prolific advances in new policy distinguished his tenure as the FDA’s commissioner, in addition to a record-setting number of approvals of novel drugs, medical devices, and generic medicines. Under his leadership, the FDA advanced new frameworks for the modern and safe and effective oversight of gene therapies, cell based regenerative medicines, targeted drugs, and digital health devices. The FDA implemented new reforms to standardize drug reviews and make historic improvements of post market data collection and the use of real-world evidence. They promoted policies to reduce death and disease from tobacco, improve food safety, and aggressively confront addiction crises.

Previously, Dr. Gottlieb served as the FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs and before that, as a Senior Adviser to the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where he helped advance policies to improve healthcare quality and promote the effective use of new medical technologies. Dr. Gottlieb is widely published in leading medical journals and periodicals, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. He has held editorial positions on the British Medical Journal and the Journal of the American Medical Association and is a regular contributor to CNBC and Face the Nation. Fortune Magazine recognized him as one of the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” in 2018 and again in 2019. In 2018 and then again in 2019 Modern Healthcare named Dr. Gottlieb the “Most Influential Physician Executive and Leaders” in its annual survey of 50 physician executives, and Time magazine named him one of its “50 People Transforming Healthcare in 2018.”

Dr. Gottlieb was a practicing hospitalist and he is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. He lives in Westport, Connecticut with his wife and three daughters.

Jim VandeHei is a media entrepreneur and expert on American politics. He is the co-founder and CEO of Axios, a disruptive media company delivering news and insights on politics, business, media and tech. The company, whose name means “worthy” in Greek, specializes in high-quality news and analysis easily shared among the country’s most influential readers and across social platforms. As CEO VandeHei aims to radically overhaul the traditional media business with a forward-thinking approach to the way viewers consume news in the 21st century. He is also the co-creator and executive producer of Axios on HBO, a documentary-news series that interviews the world’s top leaders and covers the most consequential topics of
the day, fusing together the “smart brevity” of Axios’ digital reporting with cinematic, documentary storytelling.

In addition to starting Axios, VandeHei was the co-founder and former CEO of POLITICO, the digital media company that upended and revolutionized political and policy journalism in Washington, New York, and Europe. Called a “media phenomenon” by Washingtonian, the all-politics-all-the-time site has been a smashing success since its 2006 launch. In his nine years at the publication’s helm, VandeHei was a chief architect of both the site’s editorial and business models. Under his leadership, POLITICO expanded into New York and Europe, where it was recently named the most influential publication on the continent for top government officials.

In presentations, VandeHei offers a dynamic, panoramic take on politics, policy, and the art of navigating the modern media madness, and his unique, insightful perspective flows from covering the presidency, campaigns, and Congress for two decades. Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, he combines the expertise of an on-the-beat political reporter with the entrepreneurial savvy of the man who started two media companies to shine light on what makes the powerful really tick. With a candid, close-up view of what really happens in Washington politics and governance, VandeHei brings a frontline journalist’s insight and insider knowledge to every speech. He is better positioned than virtually anyone else to pull back the curtain and address what audiences really need to know about the White House, Congress, politics, and the media.

Accolades. In 2017, Vanity Fair named VandeHei to its “New Establishment List,” the magazine’s annual compilation of industry titans, and Entrepreneur magazine named him one of the year’s “50 Most Daring Entrepreneurs.” Vanity Fair also formerly listed him among the 100 most powerful “Information Age” thinkers for helping to create “the model for the new media success story.” In 2015, VandeHei and POLITICO co-founder John F. Harris were named the 2015 Editors of the Year by the National Press Foundation. VandeHei was also selected as the first representative of a primarily online news organization to serve on the Pulitzer Board.

The Real News in Real Time. At POLITICO, VandeHei directed the editorial coverage of the largest White House and Congressional teams in the country, and he co-moderated two presidential debates in 2008, including the first debate to incorporate questions voted on by a live online audience.