KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Monday, Nov. 10 - 3:00 - 4:45 p.m.
Dewitt Jones

Dewitt Jones is one of America's top professional photographers with a career stretching over twenty years. As a motion picture director, he had two films nominated for Academy Awards (Climb - Best Live Action Short Film and John Muir's High Sierra - Best Short Subject Documentary) before he was thirty.

Twenty years as a freelance photographer for National Geographic earned him a reputation as a world class photojournalist.

Turning to advertising, Jones rose to the forefront of corporate creative marketing photographing national advertising campaigns for Dewar's Scotch, Canon, and United Airlines.

He has published nine books, including California!, Visions Of Wilderness, What The Road Passes By, Robert Frost, A Tribute To The Source, Canyon Country and John Muir's High Sierra. His most recent book, The Nature Of Leadership was created in collaboration with Stephen R. Covey  (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People).  Dewitt's column, Basic Jones, appears monthly in Outdoor Photographer magazine.

He is a cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College with a BA in Drama and holds a Masters Degree in film making from UCLA.

Dewitt is recognized as a world class lecturer. His knowledge of the creative process, his relaxed and genuine style, and his ability to communicate make his presentations truly outstanding.

Tuesday, Nov. 11 - 4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Jean Chatzky

Jean Chatzky, award-winning journalist, best-selling author and sought-after motivational speaker, has created a global platform that is making significant strides to help millions of men and women battle an epidemic with a devastating impact - debt. Jean is the financial editor for NBC's Today, a contributing editor for More Magazine, a columnist for The New York Daily News, and a contributor to The Oprah Winfrey Show.  She also hosts a daily show on the Oprah & Friends channel, exclusively on XM Radio.

She is the author of five books, including best sellers Pay It Down: From Debt to Wealth on $10 A Day (New York Times and Business Week best seller) and Make Money, Not Excuses (Wall Street Journal and New York Times best seller).  Her upcoming book The Difference: Why Some People Are Rich, Some Are Not, And How You Can Become One Of Them will be published by Crown and available in April 2009.

Jean has been recognized as an exceptional journalist. She received the Clarion Award for magazine columns from the Association of Woman in Communications, her radio show received a Gracie Award from American Women in Radio and Television, Inc., she has been nominated twice for National Magazine Awards and was named one of the country's best magazine columnists by the Chicago Tribune.  

In addition to her professional work, Jean is on the Literacy Partners board of directors, lends her support and expertise to women's services groups and is on the board of the Nora Magid Mentorship prize at the University of Pennsylvania, which helps journalism students get a head-start in the field.  She is also a member of the Trustees' Council of Penn Women for the University of Pennsylvania.
 
Jean lives with her family in Westchester, New York.

Thursday, Nov. 13 - 11:00 a.m.-12:30p.m.
Sidney Poitier

Academy Award-winning actor, writer, director, and diplomat (he serves as the Bahamas' ambassador to Japan and UNESCO), Sidney Poitier has been a political and artistic trailblazer for more than half a century. On the lecture stage he recounts the uplifting story of his life-from his childhood as the son of poor tomato farmers to his pioneering cinematic career - inspiring audiences to pursue their dreams no matter what the odds. He also speaks with passion about the importance of diversity and about the humanitarian causes that most deeply concern him, in motivating others to make a difference in the world around them.
 
Sidney has had an incalculable impact on American culture since the early 1950s, when he began appearing in a string of groundbreaking movies that addressed issues of racial and social inequality. To listening audiences, he narrates his courageous struggle to achieve equality for himself and other black actors, as well as the films that would make him one of the world's most popular and respected actors, including No Way Out, The Blackboard Jungle, Lilies of the Field, The Defiant Ones, A Raisin in the Sun, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and In the Heat of the Night. For these cinematic milestones he received the Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 2000, and in 2002 was honored with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.