NeoCon 2017 Headliners Announced, Including Arianna Huffington

Chicago, IL, February 13, 2017—How can a better tomorrow be achieved, one with renewable cities and more efficient and responsive buildings? The individuals headlining this year’s NeoCon Conference Program—Arianna Huffington, Jessica Green, and John Ronan—will address this question.

Hailing from the worlds of business, science and architecture, their ideas and efforts are helping to advance the built environment and provide a healthier future.

NeoCon, June 12 to 14 at The Mart in Chicago, has become known as a leading forum for the industry. The 2017 keynote programming will provide attendees with a comprehensive educational experience, examining timely topics and illuminating emerging trends that have far reaching effects.

* Arianna Huffington, founder & CEO of Thrive Global and founder of The Huffington Post, will speak June 12 at 11:30 a.m. in The NeoCon Theater (Motorola, 19th floor).

Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post and founder & CEO of Thrive Global, has been named to Time Magazine's list of the world’s 100 most influential people and the Forbes Most Powerful Women list. Huffington will take the stage on day one to discuss Thrive Global, her new and groundbreaking venture, which aims to end the epidemic of stress and burnout by offering companies and individuals sustainable, science-based solutions to enhance both well-being and performance.

* Jessica Green, scientist, founding director of the Biology and the Built Environment (BioBE) Center, will speak June 13 at 8:30 am.. in The NeoCon Theater (Motorola, 19th floor). Jessica Green is a scientist inspiring people to think about bacteria in entirely new ways. As founding director of the Biology and the Built Environment (BioBE) Center, she is working with architects and engineers to advance the public’s understanding of how microbial communities assemble, interact, evolve, and influence public health. The co-founder and CTO of Phylagen, a DNA data harvesting and analytics company, Green envisions a future for urban design that promotes sustainability, human health, and well-being. In her presentation, Green will explore how the microbial blueprint of human beings, homes, cities, and forests impacts the world, and the future.

* John Ronan, founding principal of John Ronan Architects, will speak June 14 at8:30 am in The NeoCon Theater (Motorola, 19th floor).

The founding principal of Chicago-based John Ronan Architects, John Ronan FAIA, will round out the keynote programming on the final day of the show. Ronan serves as lead designer on all projects his firm undertakes and is known for his abstract yet sensuous work which explores materiality and atmosphere. John Ronan Architects pursues an iterative design methodology to explore and test a wide range of ideas in order to find the response that feels intuitively correct for each situation, based on its unique site, program and context (cultural, historical, economic, social). Ronan has lectured widely and his work has been exhibited internationally, including the Art Institute of Chicago and The Architectural League of New York’s Urban Center.

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