The News
Semafor today announced a new slate of CEOs and global leaders joining the 2026 Annual Convening of Semafor World Economy, the definitive live journalism platform on the new world economy, with confirmations from senior government officials and chief executives continuing to come in ahead of the April 13–17 convening in Washington, DC. The speakers and participants comprise a global cohort of more than 450 CEOs and government leaders from across every sector spanning the G20 economies — including US Cabinet secretaries, central bank governors, finance ministers, and the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies — at a scale that makes it the largest convening of top global CEOs and government officials in the United States.
Held in Washington during the week of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings, Semafor World Economy uniquely unites private and public sector leaders to exchange ideas that will shape the future of the world economy.
The agenda for the 2026 Annual Convening is powered by Semafor’s newsroom — bringing the same rigor, curiosity, and global perspective that defines Semafor journalism — across five themes: navigating complexity in AI, geopolitics, and trade; seeing into the future of health, biotech, and emerging technologies; constructing new networks in digital assets, mobility, and infrastructure; driving human aspiration through education, workforce, and culture; and powering change through energy, innovation, and sustainability. The 2026 Annual Convening program can be found here.
More than 400 top global CEOs will take part in Semafor World Economy; today’s announced group joins a distinguished roster of chief executives, investors, and other private-sector leaders already confirmed. The full list of speakers can be found here.
Speakers include:
- Kevin Hassett –– Director, National Economic Council, White House
- Ken Griffin — Founder & CEO, Citadel
- Sriram Krishnan — Senior Policy Advisor for Artificial Intelligence, White House
- Steve Daines — Senator, R-MT
- Mark Warner — Senator, D-VA
- Sheldon Whitehouse — Senator, D-RI
- Mark Kelly — Senator, D-AZ
- Todd Young — Senator, R-IN
- Rick Scott — Senator, R-FL
- Pete Ricketts — Senator, R-NE
- Sean Cairncross — National Cyber Director, White House
- Christian Sewing — CEO, Deutsche Bank AG
- Jack Clark — Co-Founder & Head of Public Benefit, Anthropic PBC
- Joanna Geraghty — CEO, JetBlue
- Peter Orszag — Chairman & CEO, Lazard
- C.S. Venkatakrishnan — CEO, Barclays
- John Kerry — Co-Executive Chair, Galvanize Climate Solutions / Former US Secretary of State
- Henry M. Paulson Jr. — Chairman, Paulson Institute; Former United States Secretary of The Treasury
- Mukesh Ambani — Managing Director & Chairman, Reliance Industries
- Gina Raimondo — Former US Commerce Secretary
- Penny Pritzker — Former US Commerce Secretary, United States Department of Commerce
- Henry Kravis — Co-Founder & Executive Chairman, KKR
- David Rubenstein — Co-Founder & Co-Chairman, The Carlyle Group
- Robert Rubin — Former United States Secretary, Department of Treasury
- John Rogers Jr. — Founder, Chairman & Co-CEO, Ariel Investments
- Ted Leonsis — Founder, Chairman, Managing Partner & CEO, Monumental Sports & Entertainment
- Roger Lynch — CEO, Condé Nast
- Jens Stoltenberg — Minister of Finance; Former Secretary General of NATO, Norway
- Cristiano Amon — President & CEO, Qualcomm Incorporated
- Kyriakos Pierrakakis — Greece Minister of Economy & Finance & President Of The Eurogroup, European Parliament
- Carlos Cuerpo — Minister of Economy, Trade & Business, Spain
- Gabriel Makhlouf — Governor, Central Bank of Ireland
- H.E. Hadi Badri — CEO, Dubai Economic Development Corporation
- Neil Blumenthal — Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Warby Parker
- Kristupas Vaitiekūnas — Minister of Finance of Lithuania, Lithuanian Government
- John Waldron — President & COO, Goldman Sachs
- François Villeroy de Galhau — Governor, Bank of France
- Maria Luís Albuquerque — Commissioner for Financial Services & The Savings & Investments Union, European Union
- Orlando Bravo — Founder & Managing Partner, Thoma Bravo
- Harvey Schwartz — CEO, Carlyle
- Ermenegildo Zegna — Group Executive Chairman, Ermenegildo Zegna Group
- Barbara Humpton — CEO, USA Rare Earth
- Anne Wojcicki — Founder & CEO, 23andMe Research Institute
- Austan Goolsbee — President & CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
- Bob Jordan — President & CEO, Southwest Airlines
- Vimal Kapur — Chairman & CEO, Honeywell
- Scott Strazik — CEO, GE Vernova
- David Ricks — Chair & CEO, Lilly
- Pedro Azagra — CEO, Iberdrola
- Chuck Robbins — Chair & CEO, Cisco
- Nikesh Arora — CEO, Palo Alto Networks
- Brad Garlinghouse — CEO, Ripple
- Amos Hochstein — Managing Partner, TWG Global
- Paula Kerger — President & CEO, PBS
- Michelle Gass — President & CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.
- Patrice Louvet — President & CEO, Ralph Lauren
- Ynon Kreiz — Chairman & CEO, Mattel
- Kevin Plank — Founder & CEO, Under Armour
- Salil Parekh — Managing Director & CEO, Infosys
- Andrea Orcel — CEO, UniCredit
- Zach Reitano — Co-Founder & CEO, Ro
- Patrick Pouyanné — Chairman & CEO, TotalEnergies
- David McKay — President & CEO, Royal Bank of Canada
- Carlos Hank González — Chairman, Grupo Financiero Banorte
- Dina Powell McCormick — President & Vice Chair, Meta
- Rene Haas — CEO, Arm Holdings
- Reid Hoffman — Co-Founder, LinkedIn & Manas AI
- George Kurtz — CEO, CrowdStrike
- Christopher Nassetta — President & CEO, Hilton
- Dan Schulman — CEO, Verizon
- Jenny Johnson — CEO, Franklin Templeton
- Brett Schulman — Co-Founder & CEO, CAVA
- Alex Soros — Chair, Open Society Foundations
- Mark Ein — Founder & CEO, Capitol Investment Corp
- Daniel Heaf — CEO, Bath & Body Works
- Diane Hoskins — Global Co-Chair, Gensler
- Horacio Rozanski — Chairman, President & CEO, Booz Allen
- Rich Lesser — Global Chair, Boston Consulting Group
- Paul Griggs — US Senior Partner & CEO, PwC US
- Steve Rattner — Chairman & CEO, Willett Advisors LLC
- Valdis Dombrovskis — Commissioner for Economy & Productivity, Implementation & Simplification, European Commission
- Jacob Silverman — CEO, Kroll
- Ian Bremmer — President & Founder, Eurasia Group & GZERO Media
- Jimmy Iovine — Founder, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist; CEO, Iovine & Young Academy
- Lorenzo Simonelli — Chairman & CEO, Baker Hughes
- Greg Case — President & CEO, Aon
- Bill Demchak — Chairman & CEO, PNC
- Tom Wilson — Chair, President & CEO, Allstate
- Baiju Bhatt — Co-Founder, Robinhood
- Sebastian Siemiatkowski — Co-Founder & CEO, Klarna
- David Miliband — President & CEO, International Rescue Committee
- Ursula Burns — CEO, Integrum
- Noubar Afeyan — Founder & CEO, Flagship Pioneering
- André Esteves — Chairman & Senior Partner, BTG Pactual
- Patrick Healy — CEO, Hellman & Friedman
- Chris Britt — Co-Founder & CEO, Chime
- Simpiwe K. Tshabalala — CEO, Standard Bank
- Divesh Makan — Founding Partner, ICONIQ Capital
- Maverick Carter — Co-CEO, Fulwell Entertainment
- Anthony Scaramucci — Founder & Managing Partner, SkyBridge Capital
- Mark Lazarus — CEO, VERSANT
- Jim Lanzone — CEO, Yahoo
- Thasunda Brown Duckett — President & CEO, TIAA
- Ariane Gorin — CEO, Expedia Group
- Joanne Crevoiserat — CEO, Tapestry
- Brieane Olson — CEO, PacSun
- Michel Khalaf — President & CEO, MetLife
- Tim Walsh — Chair & CEO, KPMG LLP
- Amy Howe — CEO, FanDuel
- Jon Winkelried — Partner & CEO, TPG
- Christian Ulbrich — Global CEO & President, JLL
- Dambisa Moyo — Principal, Versaca Investments
- Winston Weinberg — Co-Founder & CEO, Harvey
- Jason Warner — Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Poolside
- Ben Lamm — Co-Founder & CEO, Colossal
- Mike Fey — Co-Founder & CEO, Island
- Henry Ward — CEO, Carta
- Matthew Cabe — President & CEO, Michelin
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Semafor World Economy is dedicated to empowering global decision makers to navigate extraordinary complexity by curating insights, ideas, and diverse perspectives on the new world economy. Held in Washington, DC April 13-17, the 2026 convening will span five days of on‑stage conversations and in‑depth interviews with global CEOs, government officials, and other senior decision‑makers from every major sector across the G20.
This year’s speakers will be joined by our inaugural cohort of Semafor World Economy Principals — applications are now open here.
For media inquiries and coverage requests, please contact: communications@semafor.com
About Semafor
Semafor is the world’s fastest-growing independent news media company delivering intelligence through its reporting and live convenings. Founded in 2022 by veteran media executives Justin B. Smith and Ben Smith, Semafor provides intelligent, transparent journalism that cuts through the noise and distills complexity for leaders to navigate the complex and interconnected new world economy. With a global sensibility, reach, and reporting hubs that span from Washington D.C. to Silicon Valley and Wall Street to sub-Saharan Africa and the Gulf, Semafor’s journalists around the world power its suite of daily first-read email briefings and signature live journalism convenings. Semafor’s flagship World Economy Summit, anchored in Washington, D.C., is the largest gathering of top global CEOs in North America, and its convening on emerging economies, The Next Three Billion, is held annually at UNGA and expanded this year to South Africa, East Africa, and the UAE. In 2024, Semafor was named to Fast Company’s Annual List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for “rewriting the story” on international reporting.