Jimmy Chin Keynote Speaker

Jimmy Chin is an Asian American professional mountain athlete, National Geographic photographer, Academy Award-winning filmmaker, keynote speaker, and New York Times Best Selling author. Renowned for his climbing, mountaineering, and skiing achievements, Jimmy has been a professional athlete on The North Face team for over 20 years, leading expeditions across all seven continents.

Notable accomplishments include the first American ski descent from the summit of Mount Everest in 2006 and the first ascent of Meru’s Shark’s Fin in 2011. As a photographer, Jimmy’s work has been featured in National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine, and Vanity Fair, earning him the National Geographic Photographer’s Photographer Award in 2019. His photography book There and Back became a New York Times Best Seller in 2021.

As a speaker, Jimmy Chin has shared his story and experiences with diverse audiences, including global tech leaders, financial institutions, non-profits, and creative agencies. His talks guide listeners through his personal journey, from a young kid in Minnesota captivated by the mountains to becoming a world-class climber and filmmaker. Using his stunning photography and film work, Jimmy conveys the hard-earned lessons from navigating the world’s most challenging climbs and tells the stories of other accomplished adventurers.

Jimmy co-directs films with his wife, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. Together, they directed Meru, which won the Audience Award at Sundance, and Free Solo, which won an Academy Award and grossed $29 million at the box office. Their latest documentary, The Rescue, chronicles the daring cave rescue in Thailand and won multiple awards, including the People’s Choice Award at TIFF.

Jimmy also directs commercial work for top brands like Ford, Apple, and The North Face. He lives in Jackson, Wyoming, with Chai and their two children, Marina and James.