A spirited and inspiring “fireside chat” about the future of innovation with Gary Shapiro, President and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), and George Mason President Ángel Cabrera.
Gary Shapiro is an acclaimed author and internationally-recognized thought leader on innovation and entrepreneurship. Since joining CTA in 1982, Mr. Shapiro has grown the organization to support a staff of some 200 employees and thousands of industry volunteers, and he leads the organization’s promotion of innovation as a national policy to spur the economy, create jobs, and cut the deficit. Mr. Shapiro has been repeatedly named one of the 100 most influential people in Washington by Washington Life magazine and a Tech Titan by Washingtonian magazine. He has held many exhibition industry leadership posts and received the exhibition industry’s highest honor, the IAEE Pinnacle Award. Under Shapiro’s leadership, CTA regularly wins awards for its success as a family-friendly employer, the healthiest workplace of its size in Washington, and as a “green” tradeshow producer. In 2018, CTA earned its fifth consecutive selection as a Washington Post Top Workplace.
Ángel Cabrera has been the president of George Mason University since 2012. He has guided Mason through a period of extraordinary growth in size and reputation. Mason is today the largest, fastest growing and most diverse university in Virginia, and, since 2015 the youngest top-tier research university in the nation. Mason’s faculty and students conduct world-class research in fields ranging from cybersecurity, to biotechnology and sustainability. Mason has made a long-term commitment to fostering entrepreneurship and innovation in the National Capital region, throughout the nation, and around the world. Dr. Cabrera is a frequent speaker at prestigious international forums, and he has written numerous papers in leading academic journals.
