May 26, 2023
Need a Speaker in the Chicago Area? Book Local!
For your next Chicago event, consider booking a local keynote speaker to inspire and engage your audience. The Chicago area is home to many professional keynote speakers with a range of expertise in business, leadership, technology, and other topics. The Chicago area keynote speakers have the added benefit of understanding the issues and interests most relevant to your Chicago audience. Whether your event is large or small, a compelling keynote talk can set the tone for a memorable and meaningful experience for your attendees.
Email info@bigspeak.com to discuss availability and find the perfect Chicago area keynote speaker for your event’s theme and goals.
Chris Gardner is the inspiration for the movie The Pursuit of Happyness, a top inspirational speaker, entrepreneur, author, philanthropist, and single parent whose work has been recognized by many esteemed organizations. Always hard working and tenacious, a series of adverse circumstances in the early 1980’s left Chris Gardner homeless in San Francisco, the sole guardian of his toddler son. Unwilling to give up Chris Jr. or his dreams of success, Gardner climbed the financial industry ladder from the very bottom.
Julie Smolyansky became the youngest female CEO of a publicly held firm when she took over Lifeway Foods at the age of 27 in 2002. Since then, Julie has continued the company’s growth trajectory with creative product development and marketing to bring kefir, the company’s flagship product, into the U.S. mainstream. Under her leadership, the company has expanded distribution throughout the United States, Mexico, the UK, and Ireland, as well as portions of Central and South America and the Caribbean. She has been named to Fortune Business ‘40 under 40,’ Fortune’s 55 Most Influential Women on Twitter, as one of the Best Instagrammers of the 40 Under 40 list, and was recently named a 2020 Champion of Wellness by VeryWell.
Bill Benjamin is a top emotional intelligence keynote speaker, leadership thought leader, culture expert, and contributor to the New York Times bestseller, Performing Under Pressure. He has a degree in Mathematics and has shared the brain science of emotions with discerning audiences including the U.S. Marines, NASA engineers and Surgeons, as well as leadership teams at Amazon, the Fed and Coca-Cola.
Terry Savage is a top finance speaker, a nationally known expert on personal finance, and a regular television commentator on CNN, CNBC, PBS, and NBC on issues related to investing and financial markets. She is the nationally syndicated Chicago Sun-Times personal finance columnist.
Fabio Viviani is a Celebrity Chef, Hospitality developer, best-selling cookbook author, and TV Host. In 2005 he moved from Italy to the United States to expand his journey into Hospitality, In 2008 he appeared on the reality television competition series Top Chef where he was voted “Fan Favorite”. Since 2005 Fabio has opened three dozen food establishments, restaurants, bars, and event spaces and served as spokesperson for several international brands. With over 10 million meals served each year, Fabio Viviani Hospitality is one of the leading Restaurant Group in the US.
Bridget Brennan is a top sales speaker and the CEO of Female Factor, a strategic consultancy, and author of the groundbreaking books, Why She Buys: The New Strategy for Reaching the World’s Most Powerful Consumers (Crown Business) and Winning Her Business: How to Transform the Customer Experience for the World’s Most Powerful Consumers (HarperCollins Leadership). Why She Buys was called “essential reading” by The Wall Street Journal, and “Winning Her Business” was nominated for the prestigious 2019 Porchlight Business Book of the Year. Brennan is a long-time contributor for Forbes.com on marketing to women.
Rishad Tobaccowala is a Senior Advisor to the Publicis Groupe where he has spent his entire 37 career, most recently serving as the Chief Growth Officer and Chief Strategist of the Groupe. Tobaccowala was named by BusinessWeek as one of the top business leaders for his pioneering innovation and TIME magazine dubbed him one of five “Marketing Innovators. He is in the Ad Age Interactive Hall of Fame and has received a lifetime achievement silver medal award from the Chicago Ad Federation. Rishad is also the author of “Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human in The Age of Data” which helps people think, feel and see differently about how to grow their companies, their teams and themselves to remain relevant in transformational times. Rishad is also the Chairman of The Tobaccowala Foundation which helps 10,000 people in India gain better healthcare and education.
As a hip-hop artist, Taylor Bennett’s rise has been meteoric, selling out shows all over Chicago ith his lyrical style and flow —now, as his star remains on the rise, he engages audiences in thoughtful discussion about his entrepreneurial and philanthropic efforts focused on supporting homeless LGBTQ youth. Chicago-born rapper Taylor Bennett worked hard to step out of the shadow of his older brother, Chance the Rapper. Openly bisexual and one of the only artists in hip-hop openly accepted, Taylor serves as a model for authenticity as he engages audiences with insight on the power of music in pursuit of individuality and discusses his entrepreneurial and philanthropic efforts – specifically around homeless LGBTQ youth.
Sanjay Khosla is a Senior Fellow at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and a Senior Advisor at Boston Consulting Group. Sanjay was President, Developing Markets at Kraft Foods (now Mondelez International) from Jan 2007 to March 2013, responsible for 65,000 people in over 60 countries and iconic brands like Cadbury, Oreo, Milka, Tride.