Margaret O'Mara Keynote Speaker

Margaret O’Mara is an award-winning author, internationally recognized speaker and commentator, and Professor of American History at the University of Washington.

Her acclaimed 2019 history of Silicon Valley, The Code, was named one of New York Magazine’s best books on Silicon Valley and one of The Financial Times’ best books of the year. Her 2015 book Pivotal Tuesdays brought fresh insight to four key U.S. presidential elections of the twentieth century and how they shape today’s politics. As a coauthor of the #1 history textbook The American Pageant, she shapes millions of students’ understanding of American history and the people who made it.

Having served as a White House aide in the Clinton Administration, Margaret delivers historical insights informed by real-world experience in some of the most powerful rooms in the world.

A lively and accessible speaker and in-demand media commentator, Margaret’s writing and feature interviews have appeared The New York Times (where she spent three years as a contributing opinion writer), The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, WIRED, Foreign Affairs, the MIT Technology Review, Handelsblatt, Les Echoes, and more.

Margaret’s voice and tech-industry insights are heard regularly on National Public Radio (NPR), BBC Radio, Bloomberg News, and other national and international broadcasters. She has been a guest on leading business podcasts including Recode/Decode with Kara Swisher, Marketplace Tech, Bloomberg’s Odd Lots, The Economist’s Money Talks, and The Prof G Podcast (which named her a “Blue Flame Thinker”).