Written by: Matthew McGuire

SXSW recently announced their 2016 speakers and opening keynote featuring Casey Gerald.

Each year the festival invites professionals from an array of industries to come and speak at SXSW. The interactive section of the festival highlights the technology sector, and the intersection it provides between different industries.

In addition, this year will feature an insightful discussion between Anthony Bourdain and Nathan Thornburgh, CEO of Roads & Kingdoms (SouthBites).

The opening keynote speaker will be Casey Gerald. A native Texan, Gerald received an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BA in Political Science from Yale College.

During his time at Yale, he was a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship as well as named one of the “Most Creative People in Business” by Fast Company.

“So there we were, staring at each other thru misty eyes as we watched our baby, our dream, our idea die before it even had a chance to live. But just before we pulled the plug…we decided to join the long procession of young kids, with crazy ideas who were told by some authority that they couldn’t do what they wanted. We said fuck it. We’ll do it anyway.” – Casey Gerald

Twelve new Featured Speakers also join the SXSW 2016 roster today to offer a lens into the future of technology and innovation. Read about their unique backgrounds and insights below:

• Jim Bankoff — Chairman and CEO of Vox Media creating the modern media company
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• Anthony Bourdain — CNN host and investor/editor-at-large at Roads & Kingdoms building digital media with a soul
  • as interviewed by Nathan Thornburgh — CEO at Roads & Kingdoms (SouthBites)
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• Stewart Butterfield — Co-founder of Slack simplifying collaboration across your business
  • as interviewed by Farhad Manjoo — State of the Art Columnist for the New York Times
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• Kimberly Bryant — Founder and Executive Director of Black Girls CODE leading a movement to “change the face of technology”
• Jane Park — Founder & CEO of Julep Beauty bringing women together to give them a voice in beauty
• Danae Ringelmann — Chief Development Officer and Co-Founder at Indiegogo democratizing funding and empowering entrepreneurs
  • as interviewed by Leah Chernikoff — Editor of ELLE.com
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• Maria Teresa Kumar — President and CEO of Voto Latino empowering a generation of young voters
• Meredith Perry — CEO and Founder of uBeam rethinking the way our devices receive power through wireless charging
• John Underkoffler — CEO of Oblong Industries creating the next generation of computing interfaces

Fuel innovation in your work by hearing from these creative thinkers at SXSW 2016. For the lowest registration price of the season, purchase your badge by 11:59pm CT on Friday, September 11, 2015. “Lowest price of the season” means you save $470 off the walkup rate.

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