Patrick Bet-David immigrated to America at twelve years old, when his parents fled Iran as refugees during the Iranian Revolution. After high school, Patrick joined the U.S. military and served in the 101st Airborne before starting a business career in the financial services industry. At age 30, he founded PHP Agency, an insurance marketing organization with 66 agents. He grew the firm to 40,000 agents before making a multi-nine-figure exit. A serial entrepreneur, Bet-David founded Valuetainment, which became the #1 YouTube channel on entrepreneurship with nearly a billion views, and expanded into a media and production company that includes Bet-David Consulting Group. He hosts a weekly podcast called PBD Podcast, the #1 business podcast on Spotify. Bet- David lives in South Florida with his wife and four children.

He is an international investor, student of history, entrepreneur, and a free man. His daily e-letter, Notes from the Field, draws on his life, business and travel experiences to help readers gain more freedom, more opportunity, and more prosperity.

Hickman is a lifelong entrepreneur and investor that’s traveled to more than 120 countries on all seven continents. In addition, he’s started, invested in, or acquired businesses all over the world.

He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in the US Army as an intelligence officer during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Salim’s quantum physics and philosophy education combined with his career experience gives him a uniquely macro vision of how the institutions that underpin our society and economy are broken and should be fixed. Moreover, his entertaining, irreverent, epiphany-inducing presentations are known for impressing even the most skeptical listeners.

Hickman founded a South America-based agriculture company that has become one of the leading producers in its industry. A few years ago, he acquired a prominent retail brand in Australia, purchasing the business from the former 1980s era rock star who founded it.

His other business ventures have included starting a boutique, private investment bank that boasts some of the highest levels of liquidity and solvency in the world, and investing in companies from Colombia to Uzbekistan. He also serves on numerous Boards of Directors, and previously served as Chairman of a company listed on a major stock exchange.

Writing under the pen name Simon Black, he has also written extensively on business incorporation and tax residency establishment in Puerto Rico, and is a proponent of investing in gold and silver as a hedge against inflation.

He is also a prolific writer on topics ranging from second residency and citizenship, Golden Visas and portfolio diversification, to estate and retirement planning, asset protection, tax optimization and US Opportunity Zones.

Mark Gordon believes in following one’s dreams.

Starting in childhood he imagined a life at sea. Today he is among the fortunate few who make their living pursuing their passion.

As one of the world’s foremost deep-ocean explorers, Mark knows the importance of patience, persistence, and teamwork. He also knows the thrill and learning from successes and failures that can come with following your dreams.

Audiences feel the excitement as he guides them through adventurous explorations. Whether an expedition leads to unimaginable success or a mission failure, there is always the exhilaration of the journey and always lessons to be learned.

Mark is an entrepreneur with a keen ability to build companies and lead them to realizing their true potential for success. He orchestrated Odyssey’s pivot from shipwreck exploration to subsea mineral resources by recognizing the opportunity to apply Odyssey’s core competencies in a more productive manner, selecting diverse and strategic key mineral resource targets for the Odyssey portfolio and securing the funding necessary for the company to achieve success in this new endeavour.

Mark became Chief Executive Officer of Odyssey Marine Exploration in 2014 and Chairman of the Board in 2019 after working his way up the ranks of this NASDAQ publicly traded company that he joined as an independent consultant in 2005.

Prior to joining Odyssey, Mark started, owned or managed four different entrepreneurial ventures from 1987 to 2003, including Synergy Networks which he founded in 1993 and served as CEO until September of 2003 before selling the company to the Rockefeller Group. He continued serving as President of Rockefeller Group Technology Services Mid Atlantic (RGTSMA), a member of Rockefeller Group International, until December 2004.

Mark’s path to his dream has been deliberate. During his college days and through his MBA program at American University, Mark worked as a shipwreck diver with the National Diving Center in Washington, D.C. where he conducted hundreds of dives and explorations on shipwrecks along the Atlantic Coast and off the island of Bermuda. His underwater adventures include being the first person to discover and dive on the SS Proteus, a ship that had been missing since the early 1900s, which further fueled his passion to stop at no depth.

Mark and his wife Sue make their home in Saint Petersburg where they enjoy life on the shores of Tampa Bay.

Kim Rivers currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Trulieve Cannabis Corp., a vertically-integrated “seed-to-sale” operation based in Florida. Rivers joined Trulieve at its inception and has been the key driver for the Company’s customer-centric vision, strong growth, strategic expansion, and industry-leading profitability. Ms. Rivers oversees every activity involved with the cannabis process from seed to sale to ensure quality, operational integrity and financial success.

Prior to Trulieve, Ms. Rivers spent several years in private practice as a lawyer where she specialized in mergers, acquisitions, and securities for multi-million dollar companies and has run a number of successful businesses from real estate to finance. Her experience has been instrumental in building Trulieve’s market leading position in its home state of Florida and provides the solid foundation on which to execute on growth and expansion initiatives as a multi-state operator.

Ms. Rivers also plays an active role in her community in addition to serving on numerous charitable boards. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Multinational Business and Political Science from Florida State University, where she also served as FSU’s student body President, and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Florida.

Mark Moses is author of the international bestselling book, Make Big Happen,
and the follow up book, Making BIG Happen. He is also the Founding Partner
of CEO Coaching International, which has coached more than 1000 of the
world’s top high-growth entrepreneurs and CEOs in over 60 countries. CEO
Coaching International coaches CEOs on how to dramatically grow their
revenues and profits; implement the most effective strategies; become better
leaders; grow their people; build accountability systems and elevate their own
performance. Clients working with CEO Coaching International for two years
or more have achieved an average EBITDA CAGR of 53.5%, more than three times
the U.S. average, and an average revenue CAGR of 26.2%, nearly twice the
U.S. average, according to data published in January 2023 by The NYU Stern
School of Business. Mark has won Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year
award and the Blue Chip Enterprise award for overcoming adversity. His last
company ranked as the #1 Fastest-Growing Company in Los Angeles, and #10
on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing private companies in the U.S. CEO
Coaching International has appeared in the Inc. 5000 list for the last nine
consecutive years.

Ryan Iwamoto is the President and Co-Founder of 24 Hour Home Care, a non-medical home care company that provides professional caregivers to seniors and individuals with developmental disabilities.

The company’s services allow individuals to be cared for in the comfort of their own home, as opposed to being institutionalized or having to live in a nursing home.

Iwamoto co-founded the company in 2008 at the age of 26, inspired, in part, by his own need for in-home care for his grandmother. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2005 and the Iwamoto family was faced with the challenge of finding quality care for her. She was an amazing testimonial for the magic of receiving home care and lived to be 101 years old (living in her own home with a caregiver that entire time until she passed in 2019).

Over the last 14 years, Iwamoto has grown 24 Hour Home Care to 28 locations across four states (California, Arizona, Oregon and New Mexico), providing over 6 million hours of care to 13,000+ individuals each year while employing 13,000+ professional caregivers. The company is projected to do $183MM in revenue for 2023.

24 Hour Home Care has earned a spot on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies list for nine consecutive years. At the age of 35, Iwamoto was named “Entrepreneur of the Year of Greater Los Angeles” by Ernst & Young. The phenomenal culture Iwamoto has built has been recognized by FORTUNE as one of the 15 Best Workplaces for Aging Services for the last five years. In 2022, 24 Hour Home Care was also recognized by FORTUNE as one of the best workplaces for millennials.

Tiger Lee of the South China Sea be a pirate at heart. A renegade who skirts the edge of society by running the largest pirate store in the seven seas. After travelling the New World vending at over 150 pirate related events, he be now settled in Tampa, Pirate Fashions sells authentic pirate garb. Most pirate stores only sell t-shirts n’ plastic trinkets with skull ‘n crossbones. In filling up this pirate store, he brings you the best of what this world has to offer, with some of it be made right inside the shop.  He wrote a column fer 3 years in Pirates Magazine called “A Siren’s Call”. Tiger also be a master of combinin’ photography with digital manipulation in his “Hot Pirate Babes” Calendar fer 6 years. 13 year ago with $1000 to his name, he has built up tiny niche business that has sales over $1Million. His products have been used by Disney, Black Sails, Cross Bones, WrestleMania, Pirate Voyage Dinner Show, Gasparilla and many more.

Robert P. Miles is an internationally acclaimed keynote presenter, author and distinguished authority on Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. He is currently an Executive in Residence at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Through his study and personal interactions with Buffett, journalists and media moguls often seek Miles’ commentary on Buffett’s investment moves and management strategies. Miles is a long-term shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway [nyse: BRKa/BRKb]. One of Miles’ greatest honors comes from getting to know Warren Buffett, the man and the remarkable wealth-building strategist.

The author of three books, Miles has created assorted audio and video programs, and has appeared on many radio and television programs on five continents. His media appearances include NPR, CNN, CNN International, CNBC, FOX Business, Channel News Asia, Sky Business News, Shanghai Today, CNBC Asia, CNBC Africa and Bloomberg TV. Miles’ Buffett CEO book was recommended in Warren Buffett’s 2001 Letter to Shareholders and featured as a special on National Public Television’s “Nightly Business Report.

Miles has authored the top-selling books, ”The Warren Buffett CEO: Secrets From the Berkshire Hathaway Managers” and “101 Reasons To Own the World’s Greatest Investment: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway,” all published by John Wiley and Sons. Each of his published books require 2,000 hours of researching, writing and editing. His professional and travel presentations take a minimum of 40 hours of preparation for each hour of lecture. His unrelenting passion, commitment to excellence and attention to detail has brought Miles great success.

Miles is the author and presenter of “Warren Buffett Wealth: Principles and Practical Methods Used by the World’s Greatest Investor,” a Wiley published book and audiobook by Nightingale-Conant and distributed by Audible.com. He is host of the “Buffett CEO Talk” video series, conversations with the Berkshire Hathaway managers filmed before live studio audiences and broadcast on public television.

Many of Miles’ live keynotes, along with his hardcover and paperback books have been translated into several foreign languages, including Chinese, Korean, Thai, Japanese, and Vietnamese.

Known for his subtle wit and entertaining stories, Miles considers himself a man without borders. He has shared his valuable insights, strategies, philosophies, and anecdotes with enthusiastic audiences throughout the world.

For over two decades, Miles has given hundreds of live presentations throughout North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania in over 20 countries, over 45 cities and 20 universities. One of his crowning achievements was presenting live on Carnegie Hall stage in New York City to a sold-out international audience.

Miles is the founder and host of the original Value Investor Conference and Berkshire System Summit held each year in Omaha, Nebraska immediately preceding the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. Attendees from all six continents enjoy this unique retreat-style forum featuring presentations from Berkshire Directors, Warren Buffett CEOs, global investment managers and best-selling authors.

In the fall of 2011, Miles created the curriculum and began teaching a graduate Executive MBA course at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Based on Miles’ worldwide lectures, he titled “The Genius of Warren Buffett: The Science of Investing and the Art of Managing.” This one-of-a-kind program features a distinguished speaker series, multiple valuation case studies of actual businesses and stocks purchased by Warren Buffett, and for the final exam, student presentations of businesses they think would best fit into the Berkshire family of businesses. Executives and lifelong learners have traveled to Omaha from over 45 countries to take this course. Course has been featured by CBS News Omaha.

A dedicated lifelong learner, Miles holds a degree from the University of Michigan Business School. While his homebase is in Tampa, Florida, Miles’ zest for adventure and passion for travel has taken him all over the globe through visits to more than 100 countries. One of his greatest pleasures comes from immersion into cultures and customs of the people he meets on extended stays across continents. While circumnavigating the world eight times, Miles has presented interactive multimedia travelogues that highlight the people, their culture and local customs.

Nick Friedman is a renowned entrepreneur, movie & TV producer, best-selling author, motivational speaker, actor, and TV personality. He is best known as the Co-Founder of the multi-million dollar franchise ‘College Hunks Hauling Junk,’ which has over 200 franchises worldwide and does over $300M in annual sales. Along with his business partner Omar Soliman, Nick published the best-selling book ‘Effortless Entrepreneur’ (Random House, 2010), and also Co-Produced the award-winning Netflix documentary, ‘Beware of Mr. Baker’ (2012). More recently, Nick executive produced and acted in the biopic movie about Jeff Bezos, which is the first movie ever made about the wealthiest man in the universe and the founder of Amazon.

Nick has also appeared on numerous unscripted reality television programs, including the very first episode of ABC’s Shark Tank, Bravo’s Millionaire Matchmaker, AMC’s The Pitch, HGTV’s House Hunters, CNBC’s Bluecollar Millionaires, and his company has made appearances on several other television programs, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, A&E’s Hoarders, and TLC’s Hoarding: Buried Alive.

Nick appears as a frequent guest on FOX News, MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, and various other programs and has been a regular columnist and contributor to Forbes, Fortune, Newsweek, Huffington Post, Inc, Entrepreneur, and Time, among other major publications regarding topics such as business and entrepreneurship.

He was named among the Top 30 Entrepreneurs in America Under 30 by INC Magazine and was on the same list as Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Michael Dell in a Newsweek article entitled “College Kid to Millionaire.” Nick is a three-time Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award Finalist, and he won the prestigious award in 2018, and he continues to be an active Board Member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO).

In terms of charitable involvement, Nick launched an innovative solution that provides free moves for Survivors of Domestic Violence and has completed over 200 free moves since the program began. His company also donates 2 meals for every completed job to US Hunger, having donated over 2 Million meals since launching the program.

Buying a home is an exciting yet often an intimidating process. Sue uses her extensive mortgage expertise to help homebuyers understand the financing process and discover the best mortgage option for their current needs and future goals. They know they are on the path to building wealth and memories in their new home.

Sue’s career in mortgage has had its ups and downs and has taken some crazy turns. She loves to share these stories to help others grow and succeed. Sue believes the keys to her success are confidence, determination, and trust. Each day these traits are prominent in her actions, whether she is connecting with a customer or mentoring her team.

Confidence allows Sue to dream big. And turning those dreams into reality requires determination. Sue has a knack for finding creative paths and forging ahead even when she’s uncomfortable. Have you seen her on TikTok? It’s a good thing she doesn’t take herself too seriously!

When hosting her podcast, filming for TV, writing books, or producing mortgage videos, Sue has two goals… to connect and educate. It’s what she finds most rewarding at work because it leads to building wealth for others.

After burning out in the corporate world, Red Hat Media founder Larry Roberts took a dive into a new realm of opportunities.

His goal was simple: to find excitement in what he was doing every day. He found it in droves.

Since 2014, Larry has been making himself a household name within the podcasting industry, speaking on stages of national and global trade events including Podfest Multimedia Expo and Podcast Movement, hosting shows that reached the top 1.5% of podcasts, and being named to Podcast Magazine’s 40 Over 40 in Podcasting.

With technology and media changing faster than many can hit play, Larry and his team have committed themselves to staying at the forefront of the industry. Larry is aptly seen as a thought leader in the AI space, teaching workshops and hosting speaking engagements to help creators utilize new technology, and will continue to push business owners out of their comfort zone and into a chapter of innovation and growth.

Katie Krimitsos is the creator of the Women’s Meditation Network, a collection of 17 guided meditation podcasts that help listeners feel more calm, sleep easier, release anxiety and consciously create their lives. Her meditations have been listened to over 110 million times by women all around the world. She’s a writer at heart, has a soft spot for animals, adores her Greek hubby, loves a good margarita, and treasures the job of raising her two girls.

Marion Long is an accomplished entrepreneurial leader and coach. With a strong track record of success, Marion has grown and exited several businesses during his career. Using his knowledge and expertise Marion has coached several businesses though acquisitions and structured growth plans.

Marion’s dedication to excellence has not gone unnoticed. In 2010, he was named Businessperson of the Year by the Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce, and in 2014, he was selected as one of “Top 40 Under 40” by Hampton Roads Magazine’s “Inside Business”. Additionally, he was recognized with the Entrepreneurial Excellence Award in 2015.

Marion received his Bachelor of Science from Old Dominion University in Criminal Justice / Sociology with a minor in Communication. He has a long history of community involvement, serving as Mayor of Belle Haven for eight years and holding leadership positions on various boards, including the Randy Custis Foundation, Boys and Girls Club, and the Entrepreneurs’ Organization of South East Virginia.

Marion is deeply committed to his family, with a loving wife and three sons. In his leisure time, he enjoys engaging in sports activities with his boys.

Kwame Kuadey is the Leadership Expert for the U.S. East Region. In this role, he is responsible for educating member leaders about leadership paths and opportunities available to them beyond their chapter. He has been a member of EO Baltimore since 2014, where he has served in various roles on the chapter board, most recently as Chapter President.

He’s the Co-Founder & CEO of Empower Media, a Digital Media Company focused on helping low-income households improve their financial well-being. Prior to founding Empower Media, he was the Founder and CEO of Gift Card Rescue, which gained prominence when he successfully pitched his startup on Season 1 of ABC’s hit show, Shark Tank. He grew Gift Card Rescue into one of the most successful startups in the Baltimore area, making the INC. 500 list in 2013 and the INC. 5000 three times.

Kwame has since received numerous awards and recognition for his entrepreneurial success, including being named to the Baltimore Business Journal’s “40 under 40” list. He was a 2014 recipient of the prestigious EY Entrepreneur of The Year Award in Maryland. Additionally, he has been featured in many leading publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Entrepreneur, INC. Magazine, NPR, and Forbes.

He’s an adjunct faculty member at The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, where he teaches Entrepreneurial Finance. Additionally, he has served as a mentor and advisor at incubators and business schools in the Greater Baltimore area, assisting early-stage companies in navigating the challenges of growth. He is currently the host of The Daily Breakthrough, a daily podcast where he shares actionable tips and insights on how to win the day.

Outside of work, Kwame enjoys CrossFit as a way to stay fit and, in recent years, has embraced walking as his main form of exercise. He has a passion for traveling and has visited 40 of the 50 states and 23 countries and counting. He is also an avid soccer fan and watches the English Premier League whenever he can find the time.

Cesar Quintero’s purpose is to empower leaders to build a life by design through his values to Share Vulnerably, Spark Action, Leverage Strengths, and Spread Passion.

At age 24 (in 2004) he moved to Miami given the economic turmoil in Venezuela and established Fit2Go, pioneering the corporate healthy meal delivery. After graduating from the Entrepreneurship Masters Program (EMP) in 2013, he ventured further, founding RawBar2Go (the first licensed fleet of food boats in FL) and The Profit Recipe (an entrepreneurial coaching firm that empowers leaders to evolve to get what they want from their business).

Cesar has been an engaged member of EO since 2008. His Forum journey began at age 15 as a YPO NextGen. Since then, he has held multiple Forum leadership roles across EO’s Chapter, Regional, and Global levels. Today, he facilitates Forum Trainings worldwide, enabling transformational growth through 5% connections.

As Founder and CEO of Crews & co., Eric is passionate about helping businesses grow. Eric has guided 100+ organizations to increased and sustainable profitability while simultaneously optimizing their operations and instituting elevated quality of life for their leadership teams. Working in industries such as technology, finance, marketing, manufacturing, education, and construction, he has helped convert many unorganized, underperforming ventures into streamlined, revenue-generating enterprises.

Building on decades of successful entrepreneurship and eight years as a Certified EOS Implementer® with over 1000 session days, Eric led Crews & co.’s 2021 launch of the Growth Method℠, a proprietary business operating system designed to propel companies to increased revenue, profit, and salable value.

Eric is also the Co-Founder and CEO of CE Painting, one of the largest commercial painting businesses in New England. Both CE Painting and Crews & co. have been honorees on the Inc.com list of 5000 fastest-growing businesses.

Ami Kassar, founder and CEO of MultiFunding and author of The Growth Dilemma, has earned a national reputation as a thought leader in business finance.

An in-demand speaker and trusted advisor to growth-focused business leaders, Ami has helped thousands of business owners achieve ambitious growth goals through creative and personalized funding solutions. His work has helped create tens of thousands of jobs.

For more than 20 years, Ami has challenged executives to think differently about how they capitalize growth. Regularly featured in national media including The New York Times, Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Forbes and Fox Business News, Ami also writes a weekly column for Inc. Magazine. He has advised the White House, the Federal Reserve Bank and the Treasury Department on credit markets. 

Ami regularly speaks at corporate, academic and industry events on topics including entrepreneurship and access to capital.

Cyndi has been leading The Metiss Group since 1996 but learned her passion for people long before. Raised outside of New York City, Cyndi earned a degree in Communications from Michigan State University where she taught public speaking as an undergrad for two years Cyndi’s human behavior studies started first with an international temporary staffing company, reshaping their job matching and business model to earn the branch Profit Center of The Year. Cyndi would go on to hold executive roles in HR departments for automotive, property management, distribution, publishing, and robotics industries. She has demonstrated her passion for aligning talent management strategies to business objectives throughout her whole career.

A business leader at heart, Cyndi has found her niche to impact business results best through advising leaders in their quest for an effective employee selection process, the means to accelerate employee performance, and strengthening organizational health. Cyndi is the true driver of The Metiss Group and has expanded The Metiss Group’s proven processes from Metro Detroit to all of North America.

Cyndi is a repeated speaker to EO, Renaissance Executive Forum, Convene, Vistage and countless industry groups. When not traveling, Cyndi can be found as close to the ocean as possible or on the golf course!

Chris Ronzio is the Founder and CEO of Trainual, a leading software platform transforming the way businesses onboard, train, and scale teams. Chris is on a mission to help business leaders document and delegate so they have more time to focus on the things they love. Serving businesses in over 180 countries, Trainual has been recognized on Inc.’s 2021, 2022 and 2023 Best Workplaces list and landed in the top 5% of the Inc. 5000 list. Chris is also the author of the best-selling book “The Business Playbook: How to Document and Delegate What You Do So Your Company Can Grow Beyond You”. Outside of work, Chris lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with his wife and two boys, is a huge Phoenix Suns basketball fan, and competes in marathons and triathlons- including a recent marathon in Antarctica!

Kade Wilcox has spent nearly 15 years building, leading, and selling for digital marketing agencies. He loves leading teams and people, building culture, and thinking strategically about the future.

At Square 2 Marketing, Kade serves as the Chief Revenue Officer. His passion is in helping companies clearly identify the right goals for growth, and thinking intentionally about how to accomplish them.

Square 2 Marketing has been a leader and innovator in the digital marketing space for over two decades, and has helped hundreds of companies experience significant revenue growth.

Kade is happily married to Lacey and dad to Selah and Kase. When he’s not working, he and his family are traveling the country in their Motorhome, or training for a trail race.

Marc Hurwitz attended SUNY Buffalo for a B.A. degree in Political Science, and The George Washington University for a M.A. degree in National Security Policy.

Marc began government service within the US Senate and then the US Department of State. He then worked in the White House for three years, where he served as the aide to the Deputy National Security Advisor. Marc went on to become a counter-terrorism officer for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and later worked for the government in multiple overseas posts, earning several commendations for meritorious service.

In 2008, Marc opened Crossroads Investigations, a full-service Private Investigation and Due Diligence firm, offering services including worldwide surveillance, asset and bank searches, background reports, locates, deep-dive due diligence, and real-time jury pool vetting.

Marc is a Florida Board Certified Investigator, a National Board Accredited Investigator, and a Certified International Investigator. He is accredited by the Stave & Thief Society as a Bourbon Steward.

Scott Crawford is an experienced business strategy and development expert with significant history in strategic partnerships, competitive analysis, and M&A activities. His background includes venture capital, management of international entities, and internal/external training.