15 Mar, 2012

First-Ever TEDxWallStreet to Focus on “Redefining Success” in a Challenging World

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NEW YORK, March 15, 2012 — (BUSINESS WIRE) — The soul-searching sweeping through the global financial community in the wake of the “Why I Left Goldman Sachs” commentary in the New York Times has heightened the topicality of the first-ever TEDxWallStreet, a not-for-profit event, on March 30:  “Redefining Success,” within the Wall Street community and beyond. The event will be held at the New York Stock Exchange and bring together pioneering thought leaders to address a diverse audience of 300 business, social and academic influencers, as well as a global audience via live webcast.

“We are thrilled to host the first TEDxWallStreet at the New York Stock Exchange,” said Duncan L. Niederauer, CEO, NYSE Euronext in a press release distributed on March 13, just one day before former Goldman Sachs staffer blasted the “moral bankruptcy” in his company . “We share with TEDxWallStreet the value of open dialogue and the power of ideas, and we work to foster an environment where innovative thinking is transformed into focused solutions.”

WL Ross & Co. is the event’s Lead Sponsor. As the firm’s Chairman, Wilbur Ross’ experience in the turnaround business has consistently demonstrated the power of innovation, re-thinking and re-tooling for redefining success, the media release said.

“Wall Street is overwhelmed with data but has vast needs for the expertise and creativity which this TEDxWallStreet inaugural event will begin to address. We are delighted to help sponsor this important project,” said Wilbur Ross.

Jonathan Ende is the Founder and Organizer of TEDxWallStreet. As a long-time TED enthusiast with a 20-year career in finance, he noticed that the Wall Street community was unrepresented in the universe of TEDTalks. “TEDxWallStreet brings the TED ethos to the world of finance,” said Ende. “We hope it will be a mind-opening, inspiring experience filled with transformative solutions that address today’s unprecedented global challenges.”

TEDxWallStreet is an independently organized TED event that was conceived to provide a single platform and a global stage for the brightest, most inspiring minds in and around the Wall Street community.

Speakers at the TEDxWallStreet Conference include:

• Alexa von Tobel, Founder and CEO of LearnVest
• Don Tapscott, Best-Selling Author, most recently of MacroWikinomics
• Jeff Stewart, Founder and CEO of Lenddo
• Jim Cramer, Host of CNBC’s Mad Money
• Matt Gould and Griffin Matthews, Creators and Performers of Witness Uganda: The Musical, Winner of the 2012 Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theater
• Michelle Rhee, Founder and CEO of StudentsFirst
• Scott Shay, Chairman of the Board of Signature Bank
• Sergio Fernandez de Cordova, Founder of Fuel Outdoor

TEDxWallStreet will be live streamed online and all of the talks will be available for the greater TEDx audience consisting of millions around the world. To learn more about this event and to apply for tickets, please visit http://tedxwallstreet.com/

TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 26 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. At TED, the world’s leading thinkers and doers are asked to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Talks are then made available, free, at TED.com.

TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Benoit Mandelbrot, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Two major TED events are held each year: The TED Conference takes place every spring in Long Beach, California (along with a parallel conference, TEDActive, in Palm Springs), and TEDGlobal is held each summer in Edinburgh, Scotland.

TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily; the new TED Conversations, enabling broad conversations among TED fans; and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide.

TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

For information about TED’s upcoming conferences, visit http://www.ted.com/registration

Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED