The St. Louis 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
Bryan Stevenson
Ian Bremmer
Jay Leno
2017–2018
David Cameron
Jeffrey Toobin
Jane Pauley
Robin Wright
Rick Steves
President Bill Clinton
Paul Nicklen
2016–2017
Ehud Barak
Rita Moreno
John Cleese
Martin Dempsey
Ted Koppel
Jon Meacham
Goldie Taylor, Jason Riley and Morris Dees
2015–2016
John Irving
Sanjay Gupta
Diana Nyad
Dennis Ross
Mark Kelly and
Gabby Giffords
Leon Panetta
Dave Barry
2014–2015
Martin Sheen
Julia Gillard
Mark Halperin and
John Heilemann
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Robert Mueller
David McCullough
Michio Kaku
2013–2014
George Papandreou
Bill Bryson
Robert Gates
Steve Wozniak
Olympia Snowe
Dan Rather
Doris Kearns Goodwin
2012–2013
Condoleezza Rice
Jeannette Walls
Jon Huntsman, Jr.
P.W. Singer
Erskine Bowles
Vicente Fox
Nando Parrado
2011–2012
Joseph Ellis
Michelle Rhee
Valerie Plame Wilson and Joe Wilson
Michael Pollan
Azar Nafisi
Stanley McChrystal
Tom Brokaw
2010–2011
Fareed Zakaria
Elizabeth Gilbert
Ben Carson
Lisa Ling
George Will
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Karl Rove and Howard Dean
2009–2010
Pervez Musharraf
Jean-Michel Cousteau
Laura Bush
Robert Reich
Mia Farrow
Thomas Friedman
Greg Mortenson
2008–2009
Alan Alda
Paul Rusesabagina
Arianna Huffington
George Mitchell
David Brooks
Jane Goodall
David McCullough
2007–2008
Steve Forbes
Peter Hillary
Christiane Amanpour
Madeleine Albright
Salman Rushdie
Frank McCourt
The Capitol Steps
2006–2007
Joy Behar
Aron Ralston
Colin Powell
Paul Bremer
Michael Medved
Ron Chernow
Ari Fleischer
2005–2006
Bob Costas
Robert Redford
Mark Russell
John Major
Robert Ballard
Bill Moyers
Christine Todd Whitman
2004–2005
Tim Russert
James Carville
Mary Higgins Clark
Ehud Barak
James Lovell
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Dave Barry
2003–2004
Rudy Giuliani
Elie Wiesel
Amy Tan
Frank Abagnale
Bob Woodward
David Gergen
Garrison Keillor
2002–2003
Benjamin Netanyahu
Jeff Greenfield
Ken Burns
Terry Gross
Benazir Bhutto
Bruce Babbitt
Hugh Shelton
2001–2002
Erin Brockovich
Walter Cronkite
Henry Kissinger
Stephen Ambrose
Anna Quindlen
Carl Reiner
Richard Holbrooke
2000–2001
Mark Shields
Margaret Thatcher
Beverly Sills
Frank McCourt
Mike Wallace
Mario Cuomo
Beck Weathers
1999–2000
George Will
Maya Angelou
Colin Powell
Cokie Roberts
F.W. de Klerk
David McCullough
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
1998–1999
Mikhail Gorbachev
Jack Anderson
George Stephanopoulos
Alan Dershowitz
Ralph Nader
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Tom Wolfe
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