Past Society of Skeptics Speakers

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This sampling of past Society of Skeptics speakers gives visitors an idea of the wide range of industries and perspectives represented by the weekly lecturers who have visited campus in recent years.

2016-2017

  • Alison Wright, National Geographic award-winning photographer
  • Major (Ret.) Jason Howk, author & lecturer
  • Rollie Peterkin '06, author
  • Young Alumni Panel: structural engineer Geoff Brunn ’02, investment advisory lawyer Macailagh Herman ’03, brand marketer and semi-professional runner Jon Phillips ’03 and architect Ho-Jung (Rachael) Tseng ’10
  • Kendrya Close, executive director of Blairstown-based nonprofit Foodshed Alliance
  • Nyle Fort, minister, scholar & community activist
  • Blair’s Debate Team (which engaged in a mock presidential debate)
  • Blair history department faculty (on the results of the 2016 presidential election)
  • Richie Kohler, host of The History Channel's "Deep Sea Detectives"
  • Debbie Irving, author
  • Doug Bandow, Cato Institute
  • Emily Reid, cybersecurity specialist
  • Glenn LeBoeuf, author & lecturer
  • James Moore, lawyer & art critic
  • Joe Drape, writer for The New Times & author
  • Angel investor John Moore P'19 of Investors' Circle Philadelphia, Fox Rothschild partner Liz Sigety P'16 '18 '20 '21, CNBC contributor Ron Insana P'16 and PledgeIt CEO Scott Shirley
  • Robert Neff ’49, author
  • John Inkeles ’93, Justice Department lawyer

2015-2016

  • Scarlett Lewis, founder of Jesse Lewis Choose Love Foundation
  • Rob Montz, documentary filmmaker
  • Haider Hamza, Iraqi journalist, scholar & activist
  • Edwidge Dorelien, former Blair French teacher
  • Ifa Bayeza, Africana studies, Brown University
  • Young Alumni Panel: Entrepreneur and filmmaker Kweighbaye Kotee ’01, entrepreneur Matt Gallira '08, Bank of America Merrill Lynch associate Christine Roemer Bacon ’06 & Lockheed Martin rocket scientist Jonathan Kruse ’05
  • Dave Stevens, congenital amputee & college football player
  • David Chase, general manager of the Sussex County Miners
  • Chris Fussell '92, chief growth officer for McChrystal Group
  • Stan Spraitzar '67, senior cyber strategist/advisor for the National Security Agency
  • Brad McNamara, co-founder of Freight Farms
  • Sandy Apgar '58, former assistant secretary of the Army & Defense Business Board member & Sarah Apgar '98, director of New Stores & Facilities at Warby Parker & Founder of Fitfighter Training
  • Doug Bandow, Cato Institute
  • Cornell Thomas, author, life coach & Blair's assistant boys' varsity basketball coach
  • Tony Campolo, sociologist, author, pastor & spiritual advisor to former President Bill Clinton
  • Hisham Sobhy P'17 '18, founder & CEO of Generosus Advisors, LLC
  • Sharon Squassoni, director & senior fellow of the Proliferation Prevention Program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies
  • Steven Kampmann, writer & director
  • Elliott Trommald, former Blair history department chair
  • Dick Boak '68, Martin Guitars
  • Ruth Millman, Holocaust survivor

2014-2015

  • Haider Hamza, Iraqi journalist, scholar & activist
  • Dr. Jane Ferry, MD, FACEP, MMM & colleagues
  • Alison Wright, photographer for National Geographic
  • Jerry Paffendorf, CEO of LoveLand Technologies
  • Hudson Taylor '05, co-founder of Athlete Ally
  • Blair's Debate Team
  • Dr. James Dickerson, PhD, Brookhaven National Laboratory
  • Alex Troy P'14 '15, former trustee of Amistad Academy
  • Jim Thaller, managing director of Talier Trading Group, Inc. & senior agribusiness advisor of The World Bank
  • Rev. Robert D. Higgs, executive director of Old Historic Trust
  • Amy Litzenberger, co-founder of Take the Lead
  • Rob Montz, documentary filmmaker
  • Doug Bandow, Cato Institute
  • Lois Pryce, author
  • Josh Sanborn, chairman of the history department at Lafayette College
  • Dr. David Robinson, PhD, New Jersey state climatologist & geography professor at Rutgers University
  • Ronn Cort P'16, COO of Sekisui SPI
  • Steven Kampmann, former Blair faculty member
  • Zak Taylor '94, entrepreneur
  • Walter Fortson, NJ regional field manager
  • Dr. Jose Lopez, professor of physics at Seton Hall University

2013-2014

  • Alison Wright, photographer for National Geographic
  • Sergio Troncoso, award-winning novelist
  • Ron Insana P'16, senior analyst and commentator for CNBC
  • Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) organization
  • Jim Bennett '66, activist for FairTax
  • Quint Clarke '87 & Blair students who traveled to Kenya during summer 2013
  • Ishmael Beah, former child soldier of Sierra Leone & author of the best-selling book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
  • Brian Shactman, MSNBC Anchor of "Way Too Early"
  • Taylor Krauss, an Emmy-nominated independent American video journalist
  • Rob Montz, documentary filmmaker
  • Lt. Colonel Jeff Thompson '89, special assistant to the 18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, GEN Martin Dempsey
  • Doug Bandow, Cato Institute
  • Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration: Panelists included Aisha Gayle Turner '98, Nisha Dass and Jerome Joseph, who work for Teach for America, as well as Jama Toung, chief development officer at ExpandED Schools by TASC, and Erskine Glover, principal of the Quitman Community School in Newark, New Jersey
  • Larry Moss, director & acting coach
  • Daniel Goldhagen, author
  • Glenn LeBouef, Civil War historian
  • John Haines P'17, Foreign Policy Research Institute
  • Irish human rights lawyers Kevin Winters & Niall Murphy
  • Dacre Stoker, great-grandnephew of author Bram Stoker
  • Famed American poet Billy Collins, U.S. poet laureate from 2001-2003
  • John Manners, director of The Kenyan Scholar-Athlete Project
  • Paul Thornton, associate headmaster of advancement at St. Benedict's Prep School
  • Blair Chairman of the Board of Trustees Doug Kimmelman P '12 '13 '15

2012-2013

  • Peter Mandaville '90, professor at George Mason University & former State Department adviser to the Secretary of State
  • Quint Clarke '87, Blair history teacher
  • Shawn Tucker, Rutgers Leadership Academy
  • Stephen F. Angel P '13, chairman, president & CEO of Praxair, Inc.
  • Stirling Levy '89, research analyst at Hound Partners
  • Jim Kutsch, CEO, The Seeing Eye Organization
  • Analysis of Blair's Mock Presidential Election
  • Sammi Cassin & Brittany Keesling, Exoneree Raymond Santana & Case Analyst Edwin Grimsley
  • David Carrad '61, president at Longmeadow Investments and company commander during the Vietnam War
  • Carrie Giddins Pergram '92, political lecturer, George Washington University
  • Doug Bandow, Cato Institute
  • "Science Bob" Pflugfelder
  • Mikey Kampmann '04
  • Jim Keady, director of Educating for Justice
  • Dr. Audrey Dorelien, post-doctoral researcher at the University of Michigan
  • New York Fire Department Captain Bill Gates (retired)
  • Jay Chamberlin '87, Natural Resources Division Chief, California State Parks

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