Dr. Richard Florida, Keynote Speaker

Richard Florida is one of the world’s leading public intellectuals. Esquire Magazine recently named him one of the “Best and Brightest”. He is author of the national and international best-selling book, The Rise of the Creative Class, which received the Washington Monthly’s Political Book Award and was cited as a major breakthrough idea by the Harvard Business Review. His ideas have been featured in major ad campaigns, such as BMW, and are being used globally to change the way regions, nations and companies compete.

He is founder of the Creative Class Group, an advisory services firm, charting new trends in business and community.

Richard is a regular correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly and a regular columnist with The Globe and Mail newspaper. He has written numerous articles for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review, The Boston Globe and the Financial Times. His new book, Who’s Your City? has been hailed a National Best-Seller, an International Best-Seller and Amazon Book of the Month.

Richard has also been recently named European Ambassador for Creativity and Innovation.

He is Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute and Professor of Business and Creativity at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Previously, Florida held professorships at Carnegie Mellon University, a visiting professor at Harvard and MIT, and a visiting fellow of the Brookings Institution. Florida earned his bachelor of arts degree from Rutgers College and his PhD from Columbia University.

Alright, we all know life is about choices. You choose your friends, your career, that special someone. But there’s an even bigger choice – where to live. At least, that’s what this guy says, Richard Florida. Richard is an economist, an urban theorist, A prof at the University of Toronto, and a best selling author. In the past five years, he’s written two best sellers. The first was called ‘The Rise of the Creative Class. Basically, Richard argued there is a new ‘creative class.’ We don’t just ‘work’ for a living anymore. Millions of people ‘create’ for a living, like scientists and artists always have. And Richard says that’s changed everything. Our values, our relationships, our tastes and our sense of time. After that book, he had another best seller, ‘The Flight of the Creative Class.’ And now, he has a new book, it’s called ‘Who’s Your City?’ And the title says a lot. Basically, Richard says the most important choice in your life, is where to live.. Especially, for overall happiness. Richard looks at the personalities of different cities, the best places for young families, and the best places for single guys and gals.