Stanford’s first Business, Government, and Society Forum took place on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. Our theme for the day was Responsible Leadership in a Polarized World.
This event brought together leaders from business, nonprofit organizations, government, and academia for constructive dialogue on the issues of the day, including free markets, technology, and sustainability.
Event Recordings
Keynote Speakers
Additional Sessions, by Invitation Only
AI, Policy, and Business Impact
Susan Athey (Moderator), The Economics of Technology Professor, Stanford Graduate School of Business; Professor of Economics, by courtesy, School of Humanities and Sciences, Founding Director, Golub Capital Social Impact Lab, Stanford University; Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research; President, American Economic Association
Erik Brynjolfsson, Director, Stanford Digital Economy Lab; Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Professor and Senior Fellow, Stanford HAI; Ralph Landau Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Eric Horvitz, Chief Scientific Officer, Microsoft
Forrest Norrod, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Data Center Solutions Business Unit, AMD
Yakaira Nuñez, Vice President, Research & Insights, Salesforce
Business Sustainability Revolution
William P. Barnett (Moderator), The Thomas M. Siebel Professor of Business Leadership, Strategy, and Organizations, Stanford Graduate School of Business; Professor, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability; Senior Fellow, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
Gretchen Daily, Director, Center for Conservation Biology; Faculty Director, Natural Capital Project; Bing Professor of Environmental Science, Stanford Department of Biology; Stanford University; Senior Fellow, Woods Institute for the Environment
Ivo Stivoric, Vice President, X, the moonshot factory
Clare Westwood, Regional Director, Episcopal Commission for Creation Justice for Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei
Business, Taxation, and Society
Alfred Johnson, Former Deputy Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Treasury; Founder/CEO of Crux
Rebecca Lester (Moderator), Associate Professor of Accounting, Stanford Graduate School of Business; Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Jué Lin, Former Head of International Tax, Meta
Nick Maduros, Director of the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration
Gary Sprague, Baker & McKenzie partner; Business Representative to the OECD for Taxation of Business Profits
Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato, Professor of Economics, Stanford Graduate School of Business; Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research; José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones SUPERCHARGED Initiative Faculty Fellow for 2023–2024
Democracy and Capitalism
Anat Admati, The George G.C. Parker Professor of Finance and Economics, and Faculty Director of the Corporations and Society Initiative, Stanford Graduate School of Business; Professor of Economics, by courtesy, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University; Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Patrick Alley, Cofounder and Director, Global Witness
David Leonhardt, Senior Writer, The New York Times
Bethany McLean (Moderator), Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair; Coauthor of The Smartest Guys in the Room
Energy and Decarbonization
Steve Callander (Moderator), The Herbert Hoover Professor of Public and Private Management and Professor of Political Economy, Stanford Graduate School of Business; Professor, by courtesy, of Economics and Political Science, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University; Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Steven Chu, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Physics of Molecular and Cellular Physiology and of Energy Science and Engineering, Stanford University; Former, U.S. Secretary of Energy
Jim Coulter, Founding Partner, Executive Chair and Director, TPG Inc.
Arun Majumdar, Dean, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability; Jay Precourt Professor, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, of Energy Science & Engineering, of Photon Science, by courtesy, of Materials Science & Engineering, Stanford University; Senior Fellow, by courtesy, Hoover Institution
Maria Pope, President and CEO, Portland General Electric
Innovation Policy
Ann E. Harrison, Dean of the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
Peter Henry (Moderator), Class of 1984 Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and Dean Emeritus of New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business
Sanjay Mehrotra, President and CEO, Micron Technology
Bob Sternfels, Global Managing Partner, McKinsey & Company
Misinformation in the Digital Age
Neil Malhotra (Moderator), The Edith M. Cornell Professor of Political Economy, Graduate School of Business; Professor of Political Science, by courtesy, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University; Coulter Family Faculty Fellow for 2023–2024
Michael W. McConnell, Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and Director of the Constitutional Law Center, Stanford Law School; Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
Neal Mohan, CEO, YouTube
Talia Stroud, Professor, Department of Communication Studies, Founder and Director, Center for Media Engagement, The University of Texas at Austin
Strategic China Competition
Elizabeth Economy, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; Former Senior Advisor for China, U.S. Department of Commerce
Allan Gabor, Principal, Goal Advisory and Board Chair, American Chamber of Commerce, Shanghai
Xiangwei Gong, President of Aptar Asia, AptarGroup Inc.
Keith Hennessey (Moderator), Lecturer, Stanford Graduate School of Business; Former Director, The White House National Economic Council
Matt Turpin, Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution; Senior Advisor, Palantir Technologies; Former Director, U.S. National Security Council for China and Senior Advisor on China to the Secretary of Commerce
Unsustainable: Our Broken Healthcare System
Michele J. Gelfand (Moderator), The John H. Scully Professor in Cross-Cultural Management and Professor of Organizational Behavior, Stanford Graduate School of Business; Professor of Psychology, by courtesy, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University
Arianna Huffington, Founder and CEO, Thrive Global
Lloyd B. Minor, Carl and Elizabeth Naumann Dean of the School of Medicine, Vice President for Medical Affairs, Stanford University, Professor of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, and Professor of Neurobiology and of Bioengineering, by courtesy, Stanford University
Alice L. Walton, Founder, Alice L. Walton Foundation