2019 SARASOTA’S PREMIER LECTURE SERIES™ 2019 TOWN HALL LECTURE SERIES SHAQUILLE O’NEAL Monday, January 21, 2019 JAMES COMEY Monday, February 4, 2019 JIMMY WALES Monday, February 18, 2019 CAROLINE KENNEDY Monday, March 4, 2019 IAN BREMMER Thursday, April 11, 2019 All lectures take place at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Morning lectures begin at 10:30 a.m. Evening lectures begin at 7:30 p.m. PLATINUM APPRECIATION EVENT Alfred R. Goldstein Library Thursday, January 10, 2019 The Ringling College Library Association is dedicated to the ongoing development of the Alfred R. Goldstein Library and acts as a catalyst for the educational growth of students, faculty and community. A LETTER FROM THE CHAIR Our world is both the most complex and the smallest it has ever been. The TOWN HALL series is an opportunity to find intersections between these unique times and the individual interests of our diverse patrons. It is through these intersections that TOWN HALL works its particular magic, bringing together strangers and experts to begin important, interesting, and relevant discussions. We consider the curation of this series both an immense privilege and a responsibility to match the vastness of knowledge and experience of our patrons with the prowess of groundbreaking visionaries and famous figures from our larger world. To execute this objective, the TOWN HALL committee relied heavily upon the feedback that you, our patrons, provided in our annual follow-up survey. We heard you when you expressed an interest in sports, well-known personalities, and speakers with expertise in both domestic and global arenas. The selected speakers represent the breadth of these requests, and we hope that we have not only met, but exceeded your expectations. On behalf of everyone at the Ringling College Library Association, I want to thank our sponsors, subscribers, and patrons for the tremendous support that you continue to show the TOWN HALL series. Just as you are the heart of these lectures, students and academic resources are the heart of any college. The TOWN HALL series was created to support these two vital aspects of the Ringling College of Art and Design. You have been instrumental in the creation of the Alfred R. Goldstein Library, and your continued involvement ensures its ongoing function. The TOWN HALL series additionally supports scholarships for Ringling College of Art and Design students. We are incredibly passionate about our mission, and are humbled by your generosity and support. In closing, we are honored to provide you with another series of thought-provoking lectures and hope that you are as eager for the coming year as we are! With endless gratitude, Mitzie Henson TOWN HALL 2019 Chair RINGLING COLLEGE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Stephanie Grosskreutz MEMBERSHIP AND EVENT ADMINISTRATOR Michelle Frau RINGLING COLLEGE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION BOARD PRESIDENT Becky Mahoney BOARD OF DIRECTORS Erin Christy Chris Cremer Patrick Duggan Renee Eppard Michael Forson Kathleen France Sue Gross Mitzie Henson Jennifer Huber Ollie Johnson Cathy Layton Jay Logan Jim Roque Cindy Stuhley Emily Walsh Linda Whitacre Ringling College of Art + Design Dr. Larry Thompson, President Kristina Keough, Director of Library Services Stacey Corley, VP of Advancement SHAQUILLE O’NEAL Monday, January 21, 2019 Few individuals ever become iconic enough to be known by one name—Shaq. A revered cultural icon, Shaquille O’Neal is best known for an NBA career spanning nearly two decades and earning him the sport’s highest honors, including membership in the NBA Hall of Fame. The four-time NBA Champion, 15-time NBA All Star and three-time NBA Finals MVP has been named one of the most influential athletes by Forbes magazine, in addition to being the highest ranked NBA athlete on Nielsen’s State of the Media: Year in Sports 2010 and Business Week’s Power Sports 100. Shaquille O’Neal isn’t only a legendary athlete; he has also established himself as a powerful media personality and businessman over the years. Ranked among ‘‘The 100 Most Creative People in Business’’ last year by Fast Company magazine, O’Neal is currently an NBA analyst on TNT’s Emmy-award winning show, Inside the NBA. In addition to being an early investor in companies such as Google, O’Neal has managed an increasingly robust personal brand, which has included television shows, a shoe line and social media/tech products. The first verified celebrity account on Twitter, O’Neal announced his NBA retirement via Tout, a social media app that allows users to tape 15-second video statuses. JAMES COMEY Monday, February 4, 2019 James Comey led the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 2013 to 2017, appointed to the post by President Barack Obama. His tenure was tested by new forces within and outside America’s borders. He oversaw the federal response to mass shootings in San Bernardino in December 2015 and at Pulse nightclub in Orlando the following June, at the time the deadliest in the country’s history. He also worked to address key leadership, agility, and diversity issues within the Bureau. Prior to his service at the FBI, Comey worked as a federal prosecutor in New York and Virginia as well as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and the U.S. deputy attorney general in the administration of President George W. Bush. In the private sector, he has worked at law firms and as the general counsel of Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor, and Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund. Comey is the 2017-2018 Gwendolyn S. and Colbert I. King Endowed Chair in Public Policy at Howard University. He has been an adjunct professor at the University of Richmond School of Law and a Hertog Fellow in National Security Law at Columbia Law School. A native of the New York metropolitan area, Comey attended the College of William & Mary and the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife Patrice have five children and live in northern Virginia. JIMMY WALES Monday, February 18, 2019 Jimmy Wales is a U.S. Internet entrepreneur, wiki pioneer, and technology visionary, who is best known as the Founder of Wikipedia, an international collaborative free content encyclopedia on the Internet, and the Wikimedia Foundation. He is also the founder of WikiTribune, a groundbreaking ad- free news platform that produces evidence-based journalism, and co-founder of Wikia, a privately owned free web hosting service he set up in 2004. In a 2004 interview with Slashdot, Mr. Wales explained his motivations about Wikipedia, “Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That’s what we’re doing.” The success of the project has helped popularize a trend in web development (called Web 2.0) that aims to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing among users. His work with Wikipedia, which has become the world’s largest encyclopedia, prompted TIME Magazine to name him one of its “100 Most Influential People,” in 2006 in the “Scientists & Thinkers” category. As citizens’ demand for reliable, fact-based journalism grows ever-louder, Wales is blazing a path forward that will reshape news media. Mr. Wales received his bachelor’s degree in finance from Auburn University and a master’s from the University of Alabama. CAROLINE KENNEDY Monday, March 4, 2019 Caroline Kennedy is an attorney who served as the United States Ambassador to Japan from November 2013-January 2017. During her tenure she helped realize the United States military’s return of land on Okinawa to the Japanese government, the largest land transfer since 1972, and President Obama’s historic visit to Hiroshima. Ms. Kennedy is the author or editor of eleven New York Times best-selling books on law, civics, and poetry. She has edited The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (2001), Profiles in Courage for Our Time (2002), A Patriot’s Handbook (2003), and A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children (2005). She has authored A Family Christmas (2007), and She Walks in Beauty—A Woman’s Journey Through Poems (2011). Ms. Kennedy has a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University and is a graduate of the Columbia Law School and Honorary Chair of the Senior Advisory Committee of the Harvard University Institute of Politics. From 2002-2011, Ms. Kennedy was Vice Chair of the Fund for Public Schools, dedicated to engaging the private sector in school reform and encouraging New Yorkers to volunteer in public schools. Ms. Kennedy is the daughter of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jaqueline Bouvier Kennedy. She is Honorary President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and is the proud mother of three children, working with her to carry on her family’s legacy. IAN BREMMER Thursday, April 11, 2019 Ian Bremmer is the president and founder of Eurasia Group, the leading global political risk research and consulting firm. He is a prolific thought leader and author, regularly expressing his views on political issues in public speeches, television appearances, and top publications. Dubbed the “rising guru” in the field of political risk by The Economist, he teaches classes on the discipline as Global Research Professor at New York University and is a Foreign Affairs Columnist and Editor at Large for Time magazine. His latest book, Us vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism was published in April 2018. Bremmer actively discusses the intersection between politics and markets in speeches and the media. He has published nine books including the national bestsellers Every Nation for Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World and The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations? He is a regular columnist for the Financial Times A-List, and has written hundreds of articles for many leading publications.