Wharton DC

Keynote:

Marla Beck is the CEO and Co-Founder of Bluemercury Inc., an iconic, high-growth luxury beauty retail chain founded in 1999 and acquired in 2015 by Macy’s Inc., whose exponential growth continues to be guided by her leadership and passion for entrepreneurship, innovation, and consumer brands. Marla is also a cosmetics brand developer, having co-founded M-61 Laboratories in 2008, makers of M-61 Powerful Skincare, a clean and clinical skincare line, and Lune+Aster Cosmetics, a vegan cosmetics brand. Ms. Beck was named as one of Goldman Sachs’ 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs and is the first woman to be recognized with two cover stories by Inc. magazine focusing on her entrepreneurial achievements. In 2019, she was inducted into the Washington Business Hall of Fame.

Victor Hoskins joined the Fairfax County (Va.) Economic Development Authority as president and CEO on August 5, 2019. Previously, he was the director of Arlington (Va.) Economic Development since 2015. In that role he is most known for leading the team that successfully attracted Amazon HQ2 to Arlington County, a deal that will bring between 25,000 and 37,850 Amazon jobs to Arlington, stimulate creation of another 75,000 jobs in the Washington region, and generate between $3.2 and $4.8 billion in revenue for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Under Mr. Hoskins’ leadership, Arlington County also successfully implemented an Innovation Strategy that moved it toward technology and private-sector commercialization. Other successes in Arlington include Nestlé, Grant Thornton, Lidl, MasterCard, Deloitte, PBS and Opower-Oracle.

Previously, Mr. Hoskins worked in private real estate investment on Wall Street. He also served as deputy mayor of economic development for the District of Columbia, during which time he led the turnaround of the District’s economy with projects such as The Wharf and City Center. During his career, his work has resulted in almost 375,000 jobs, and he has led the teams that negotiated more than 700 major business deals resulting in billions of dollars in private investment.

Since he arrived at the FCEDA, Hoskins has received the 2019 Ronald Kirby Award for Collaborative Leadership from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. Virginia Business magazine named him one of the “100 people to meet in 2020,” and the Washington Business Journal included him in its “Power 100 class of 2019.” Previously, the Washington Business Journal recognized him for his role in securing the Amazon and Nestle deals, and the D.C. Building Industry Association recognized him in 2014 and 2013 for leadership in economic development.

He holds a master’s degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor's degree with honors from Dartmouth College.

Keynote:

Dr. Kaihan Krippendorff is the author of 4 books including his most recent, Driving Innovation From Within: A Guide for Internal Entrepreneurs.

Keynote: Creating Business Magic

David Morey, founder and Chairman of DMG Global, is one of America’s leading strategic consultants and speakers. He is the best-selling author of the The Underdog Advantage, The Leadership Campaign, Creating Business Magic, the #1 New Release on Amazon, and most recently Innovating Innovation. For many years, Mr. Morey served as Adjunct Professor of International Affairs at Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. Over the years, he has worked with a who’s who of Fortune 500 leaders—and advised five Nobel Peace Prize winners and nineteen winning global presidential campaigns. Mr. Morey’s corporate clients include GE, Verizon, Pepsi, Mars, KPMG, McDonald's, Microsoft, News Corp., Nike, P&G, Disney, Visa, The Coca-Cola Company, Linkedin, TPG, American Express, NBC, Samsung, Deloitte, CVS, and many others.