May 9, 2018
Former GE vice chair to take stage at ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference
Former vice chair of General Electric (GE) Beth Comstock, USDA Under Secretary Bill Northey and groundbreaking neurologist Dr. Majid Fotuhi have been added to ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference (ONE18)'s high-impact main stage lineup of speakers.
4,000 attendees from more than 70 countries are expected to attend this year's 34th annual conference in Lexington, Kentucky, US, on May 20-22.
Twice named one of "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women" by Forbes, Comstock was the first woman to serve as a vice chair at GE. Over nearly two decades, she led efforts to accelerate new growth and innovation, helping to transform a process-heavy, top-down culture to a faster, agile and inventive one.
Having recently stepped down from her position as GE's vice chair, she is now exploring a path as an author, instigator and connector. Comstock replaces Jack Welch, who has cancelled his engagements due to an injury.
As undersecretary of the USDA, Northey leads the Farm Production and Conservation Mission Area, which includes oversight of the National Resources Conservation Service, the Risk Management Agency and the Farm Service Agency. Northey was formerly the Iowa secretary of agriculture from 2006 to 2018.
A fourth-generation farmer, Northey has also served as president and chairman of the National Corn Growers Association and president of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture.
A Harvard- and Johns Hopkins-trained neurologist and neuroscientist, Fotuhi is widely regarded as an authority in the field of memory, Alzheimer's disease, concussion, ADHD and increasing brain vitality in late life. He has had numerous publications in major peer-reviewed journals, which have been cited by thousands of scientists around the world.
Fotuhi has 25 years of teaching, clinical work and neuroscience research experience at Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University. He is currently the medical director of NeuroGrow Brain Fitness Center, an affiliate staff member at Johns Hopkins Medicine and a lecturer at Harvard Medical School, where he is one of the most popular instructors due in part to the two 5-foot-tall brain models he designed for his students in neuroanatomy classes.
Also featured on ONE18's main stage will be Dr. Robert Wolcott and Dr. Rodolphe Barrangou.
Wolcott is the author of "Grow from Within: Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation" and is a clinical professor of innovation and entrepreneurship at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
He is a regular contributor to Forbes on the impact of technology on business, society and humanity, and currently serves on advisory boards for ZF, a US$40 billion German automotive supplier, and H-Farm, the leading technology ecosystem in Italy.
Recently, he received the 2016 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, the 2016 Canada Gairdner International Award, the 2017 NAS Award in Molecular Biology and the 2018 NAS Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences. He is also the former chairman of the board of directors of Caribou Biosciences, a co-founder and member of the scientific advisory board of Intellia Therapeutics, and a co-founder and chairman of the scientific advisory board of Locus Biosciences.
The transformative power of ideas is the underlying focus of over 100 topics slated for discussion at ONE18. Twelve sessions, covering all major agriculture sectors, as well as business, health and wellness, and brewing and distilling will set the stage for an epic exchange of ideas between thought leaders and knowledge seekers.
Learn more and register at one.alltech.com.
Join the conversation with #ONE18 on Twitter, and follow the ONE18 Facebook event page for updates.
ONE18 is approved for 16 CEUs by the American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists.
ONE18 is registered with the Kentucky Department of Education as a programme available for professional development credit hours.
