Keynote Speaker Bios

Mike Krzyzewski “Coach K”

As head coach of Duke University’s Blue Devils for over 30 years, Basketball Hall of Famer and current national championship Coach K has made a career of motivating people, on and off the court.  He coached the 2008 U.S. men’s national basketball team to its first gold medal since the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Known as the "Redeem Team", the team had a perfect 8-0 record during the Olympics and solidified U.S. basketball's return to dominance under Coach K's leadership.  He also directed Team USA to their gold medal at the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey to officially qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London.  As head U.S. men’s basketball coach at the 2012 Summer Olympics, he lead the team to their gold medal.

During his tenure at Duke, Coach K has led his team to 4 NCAA Championships, 11 Final Fours, 13 Atlantic Coast Conference championships and an NCAA-record 12 30-win seasons. The all-time NCAA Division 1 men’s leader for wins with 903 and counting, he’s amassed an NCAA record 77 tournament victories while averaging more than 25 wins per season. Coach K enters the 2011-12 season three wins shy of passing his mentor Bob Knight as the winningest coach in NCAA history.

Prior to coaching at Duke, Coach K spent five years building the men's basketball program at his alma mater, West Point. As of fall 2011, he has a 900-225 career record and an 827- 224 record at Duke. In 2000, he earned his 500th win at Duke with a triumph over Villanova.

Coach K has been named National Coach of the Year 12 times in 8 different seasons; was named Coach of the Decade for the 1990s by the NABC; and was the 2nd recipient of the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award. In 2001, he was one of 3 members inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, with the presentation made by his college coach Bob Knight.

In 2001, Coach K was named "America's Best Coach"—all coaches, any sport, any level of play—by TIME magazine and CNN. "No college hoops coach has won more in the past two decades," wrote Josh Tyrangiel of TIME "and Krzyzewski has accomplished all this with a program that turns out real-deal scholar athletes-kids who go to class, graduate and don't mind telling everyone about it."

In 2011, Sports Illustrated named him Sportsman of the Year and in 2009, Sporting News named Krzyzewski one of the 50 greatest coaches in any sport of all time.

Krzyzewski is also a best-selling author of Leading with the Heart which reached The New York Times best seller list in 2000. His two most recent books Beyond Basketball: Coach K’s Keywords for Success, released in 2006, and THE GOLD STANDARD; Building a World-Class Team, released in 2009, were co-authored by his youngest daughter, Jamie Spatola.

Dina Howell

Saatchi & Saatchi X is the most-awarded shopper marketing network. With 13 offices in 10 countries, Saatchi & Saatchi X, has been globally transforming how brands and retailers connect with shoppers since its founding in 1997.  A pioneer and architect of shopper marketing, Dina is a well-known international authority on the fastest growing segment in marketing today. As an industry expert, she is cited in the landmark study by Deloitte Consulting on Shopper Marketing; wrote the Foreword to Google's "ZMOT, the Zero Moment of Truth"; and is often quoted in business publications, such as The Wall Street Journal, The Economic Times, Shopper Marketing, and Ad Age.  Dina joined Saatchi & Saatchi X in 2010 after retiring from Procter & Gamble. While at P&G, she served as Vice President Global Media and Brand Operations and led the establishment of shopper and retailer marketing within the company. Honored numerous times for her industry contributions, Dina has been recognized in Advertising Age Women to Watch; POP (Point of Purchase) Hall of Fame; and three times in "Who's Who in Shopper Marketing". Saatchi & Saatchi X has earned more than 100 international industry and brand awards under her leadership, including 7 Effie Awards. Dina is active in several business organizations and is on the executive board for the Center for Retailing Excellence at the University of Arkansas as well as a member of the Northwest Arkansas Council. Additionally, she supports non-profit community activities focused on children and families. She currently serves on the board of Heart of America Foundation in Washington, D.C and as a trustee for Give Kids the World Foundation in Orlando, Florida.

George F. Will

George Will is today's most widely read columnist. His newspaper column, syndicated by The Washington Post since 1974, appears twice weekly in approximately 400 newspapers in the U.S. and Europe. In 1976, he became a regular contributing editor of Newsweek magazine, for which he provided a bimonthly essay until 2011. In 1977, he won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary for his newspaper columns. Altogether eight collections of Will's Newsweek and Washington Post columns have been published, the most recent being One Man's America. In 1990, Will published Men At Work: The Craft of Baseball, which topped The New York Times best-seller list for two months and was most recently reissued in April 2010 as a 20th Anniversary special edition with a new introduction. In 1998, Scribner published Bunts: Curt Flood, Camden Yards, Pete Rose and Other Reflections on Baseball, a best-selling collection of new and previously published writings by Will on baseball. Will was a member of Major League Baseball's Blue Ribbon Panel, examining baseball economics. In 1981, he became a founding panel member on ABC television's This Week. Will was born in Champaign, Illinois, educated at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, Oxford University and Princeton University, where he earned his Ph.D. He has taught political philosophy at Michigan State University, the University of Toronto and Harvard University. Will served as a staff member in the United States Senate from 1970 to 1972. From 1973 through 1976, he was the Washington editor of National Review magazine. Today, Will lives and works in Washington.

 

Leon Nicholas

Nicholas leads Kantar Retail's team of US analysts, maintaining a focus on mass merchandisers. Leon has appeared as a retail expert on CNBC and Bloomberg. In print, his retail analyses have appeared in The Washington Post, Boston Globe, Bloomberg Business Week, The Wall Street Journal. For two years he was a retail manager in the Hannaford Bros. flagship store in Portland, ME and he also logged in eight years with SymphonyIRI Group.