Admiral McRaven: Why the U.S. Must Win the Global Innovation Race

Admiral William H. McRaven, is a retired U.S. Navy Four-Star admiral and the former Chancellor of the University of Texas System. During his time in the military, he commanded special operations forces at every level, eventually taking charge of the U.S. Special Operations Command. His career included combat during Desert Storm and both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

McRaven is a recognized national authority on U.S. foreign policy and has advised Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and other U.S. leaders on defense issues. He currently serves as a Senior Advisor for Lazard Financial Advisory and he is on the boards of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the National Football Foundation, the International Crisis Group, The Mission Continues, and ConocoPhillips.

McRaven is the author of four books, SPEC OPS: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare, and three New York Times Best Sellers, Make Your Bed, Sea Stories, and The Hero Code. He met his wife, Georgeann, while they were students at UT Austin, and they have three grown children. McRaven stays active with his writing, speaking and board commitments.

Alexandr Wang is the founder and CEO of Scale AI, the data platform accelerating the development of artificial intelligence. Alex founded Scale as a student at MIT at the age of 19 to help companies build long-term AI strategies with the right data and infrastructure. Under Alex's leadership, Scale has grown to a $7bn valuation serving hundreds of customers across industries from finance to e-commerce to U.S. government agencies.