2026 Ideas Summit Speakers

  • Marcus Bass

    Executive Director | Advance Carolina

  • Elizabeth Biser

    President | Biser Strategies LLC

  • Matthew Blake

    Senator | Urbandale, IA

  • Chris Cooper

    Professor of Political Science | Western Carolina University

  • Janet Cowell

    Mayor | Raleigh, NC

  • Debbie Cox Bultan

    CEO | The NewDEAL

  • Adrian Fontes

    Secretary of State | AZ

  • Grant Hauschild

    Senator | Northland, MN

  • Rod Hickman

    Senator | Kemper, MS

  • Kesha Hodge Washington

    City Councilmember | Phoenix, AZ

  • Jeff Jackson

    Attorney General | NC

  • Tom Jensen

    Executive Director | Public Policy Polling

  • Bruce Lesley

    President | First Focus on Children

  • Yadira Ramos-Herbert

    Mayor | New Rochelle, NY

  • Melissa Roberts

    Founder and Executive Director | American Flood Coalition

  • Zeb Smathers

    Mayor | Canton, NC

  • Leonardo Williams

    Mayor | Durham, NC

  • Reid Wilson

    Secretary | North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality