Walter Isaacson
President and CEO of the Aspen Institute & Bestselling Biographer
Walter Isaacson is the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute. He has been the Chairman and CEO of CNN and the editor of TIME magazine. He is the author of Einstein: His Life and Universe, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003), and Kissinger: A Biography (1992) and is the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made (1986).
Most recently Isaacson published the highly anticipated and only authorized biography – Steve Jobs. Based on more than 40 interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.
Isaacson was born on May 20, 1952, in New Orleans. He is a graduate of Harvard College and of Pembroke College of Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.
He began his career at the Sunday Times of London and then the New Orleans Times-Picayune/States-Item. He joined TIME magazine in 1978 and served as a political correspondent, national editor and editor of new media before becoming the magazine’s 14th managing editor in 1996. He became Chairman and CEO of CNN in 2001, and then president and CEO of the Aspen Institute in 2003.
He is the chairman of the board of Teach for America, which recruits recent college graduates to teach in underserved communities. He was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate to serve as the chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and other international broadcasts of the United States. He is vice-chair of Partners for a New Beginning, a public-private group tasked with forging ties between the United States and the Muslim world. He is on the board of United Airlines, Tulane University, and the Overseers of Harvard University. From 2005-2007, after Hurricane Katrina, he was the vice-chair of the Louisiana Recovery Authority.
At the podium, Isaacson brings a combination of wit, history, drama, and humanity to the stories of Jobs, Einstein and Franklin, and their contributions to the world. His presentations are informed by a deep knowledge of history and its significance to the news of the day.
He lives with his wife and daughter in Washington, DC.
Interested in booking Walter Isaacson to speak at your next event?
Most recently Isaacson published the highly anticipated and only authorized biography – Steve Jobs. Based on more than 40 interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.
Isaacson was born on May 20, 1952, in New Orleans. He is a graduate of Harvard College and of Pembroke College of Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.
He began his career at the Sunday Times of London and then the New Orleans Times-Picayune/States-Item. He joined TIME magazine in 1978 and served as a political correspondent, national editor and editor of new media before becoming the magazine’s 14th managing editor in 1996. He became Chairman and CEO of CNN in 2001, and then president and CEO of the Aspen Institute in 2003.
He is the chairman of the board of Teach for America, which recruits recent college graduates to teach in underserved communities. He was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate to serve as the chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and other international broadcasts of the United States. He is vice-chair of Partners for a New Beginning, a public-private group tasked with forging ties between the United States and the Muslim world. He is on the board of United Airlines, Tulane University, and the Overseers of Harvard University. From 2005-2007, after Hurricane Katrina, he was the vice-chair of the Louisiana Recovery Authority.
At the podium, Isaacson brings a combination of wit, history, drama, and humanity to the stories of Jobs, Einstein and Franklin, and their contributions to the world. His presentations are informed by a deep knowledge of history and its significance to the news of the day.
He lives with his wife and daughter in Washington, DC.
Interested in booking Walter Isaacson to speak at your next event?
Contact Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau.
(866) 248-3049
info@simonspeakers.com
- Einstein and Franklin: Leadership
- Einstein and Franklin: Creative Minds
- Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
- Steve Jobs: The Story of a True Visionary
