Featured Speakers
Keynote | Wednesday, 11:45 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.
Jeff Speck
Jeff Speck is a city planner and urban designer who, through writing, lectures, and built work, advocates internationally for smart growth and sustainable design. As Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 through 2007, he oversaw the Mayors' Institute on City Design and created the Governors' Institute on Community Design, a federal program that helps state governors fight suburban sprawl. Prior to joining the Endowment, Speck spent ten years as Director of Town Planning at Duany Plater-Zyberk and Co., a leading practitioner of the New Urbanism, where he led or managed more than forty of the firm's projects.
Speck is the co-author of Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream as well as The Smart Growth Manual. He serves as a Contributing Editor to Metropolis Magazine, and on the Sustainability Task Force of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. His recent book, Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time – which the Christian Science Monitorcalled “timely and important, a delightful, insightful, irreverent work” – was the best-selling planning/design title of 2013.
Closing Luncheon | Thursday, 12:15 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.
Governor Mike Pence
 Governor Mike Pence is a lifelong Hoosier with legal, small business and policy experience. He was elected the 50th Governor of the State of Indiana in 2012 and inaugurated January 14, 2013.
Since taking office in 2013, Pence has achieved the largest state tax cut in Indiana history while also lowering the business personal property tax and corporate income tax to strengthen the state’s competitive edge in attracting new investment and good-paying jobs for Hoosiers. He has expanded school choice, increased educational opportunity for Hoosier families by signing into law the first State funding for pre-K education in Indiana, and addressed Indiana’s skills gap by making career and technical education a priority in every Indiana high school. And, because roads mean jobs here in the Crossroads of America, under his leadership the state has invested more than $800 million in new money for roads and bridges in Indiana.
Prior to being elected governor, Pence represented Indiana’s Sixth Congressional District in Congress. First elected in 2000 and earning a sixth term in 2010, Pence brought his Hoosier sensibility to the table and quickly established a record of serving his constituents and championing fiscal responsibility, smaller government and economic growth—skills and values he has brought with him to state government. Pence was elected unanimously by his colleagues to serve as House Republican Conference Chairman and Chairman of the House Republican Study Committee.
Pence was born and raised in Columbus, Indiana, graduated from Columbus North High School, went on to graduate from Hanover College in 1981 and earned his J.D. from Indiana University School of Law in 1986.
Governor Pence and First Lady Karen Pence have been married since 1985 and currently live in the Governor’s Residence. They have three adult children, Michael, Charlotte and Audrey.
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John Gregg
 An experienced and well respected public servant, John Gregg has spent more than 30 years in private business and public life working to bring people together to get things done.
After working for two Fortune 500 companies in the energy field, Gregg was elected in 1986 to represent Southwest Indiana in the Statehouse. He served in the Indiana House of Representatives for 10 years before being elected Speaker of the House in 1996. In his six years as Speaker, Gregg worked with both political parties to cut taxes, balance budgets, expand Indiana’s economy and better support public schools, all while overseeing record surpluses.
In 2002 Gregg decided to spend more time with his two growing boys and retired from public office. The following year, Governor Frank O’Bannon asked him to serve as interim President of Vincennes University, where he worked to expand the curriculum, increase access and to keep tuition costs down.
Following his tenure at Vincennes, Gregg returned to his law practice, wrote a book and hosted a popular weekend radio talk show. In 2012 Gregg re-entered the political arena and was the Democratic Party’s nominee for Indiana Governor, coming up just short of victory in the closest race for that office in 50 years. In May 2015, John announced his plans to seek the governorship again.
Gregg is a lifelong resident of Sandborn, Indiana, in rural Knox County. He earned undergraduate degrees from Vincennes University and Indiana University and, while working full time, earned a master’s degree from Indiana State and a law degree from Indiana University.
Gregg proudly lives in Sandborn along with his wife, Lisa, where he tends to the family farm and continues to practice law. The couple have three adult children.
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