WWSG Exclusive
13th President of the University of Florida, Former U.S. Senator for Nebraska, New York Times National Best-Selling Author
Ben Sasse is known as a former U.S. Senator for Nebraska and University of Florida professor and 13th president. He is also a two-time New York Times national best-selling author whose career has spanned the private and public sectors. Ben believes in pluralism, free speech, and the power of ideas to build strong and vibrant communities in our digitally disrupted future. His speech topics touch upon today’s pressing social and technological concerns and, using historical perspective, advise and prepare audiences for the possibilities of tomorrow.
Ben Sasse on the trade decisions that will define our future
Ben Sasse on the digital revolution and future of work
Ben Sasse on the importance of individual resilience in a disrupted economy
Ben Sasse addresses the biggest trends shaping the world today, and how businesses can compete and thrive in a dynamic global environment. Among the topics that Sasse can discuss:
As the President of the University of Florida and as a U.S. Senator from Nebraska before that, Ben Sasse keenly understands the challenges that leaders face in our current moment. Today’s leaders must balance the interests and concerns of multiple stakeholders, and must do so in the midst of rapidly changing technology and a global, hyperconnected landscape. How should leaders navigate through turbulent times, and amongst competing priorities? How can they better empower their people to harness and grapple with new technologies like AI? In his remarks, Sasse details how having a clear vision and bedrock values can act as a North Star for leaders in the 21st century.
The AI revolution is becoming an everyday part of life—from streamlining traffic patterns to tackling complex scientific questions. AI’s impact will only become greater. Over the past few years, more data has been produced than in all of human history prior. The scope and depth of what we know is only going to grow larger and more actionable with the help of AI.
In a speech examining the impact of tech and AI on our society, Ben Sasse dives into:
Many historians are comparing current times to the Cold War. What’s different now than the Cold War, for good and for ill, is the intertwining of commerce between the two largest economies the world has ever known. This time around weapon systems will still matter, but far less than the economic and technological race of 2030 and beyond. In this address, Ben Sasse explores:
Once upon a time, war was centrally about atoms – about physical violence and breaking stuff. In the future, there will be two kinds of war: digital-only and hybrid. But there will never again be a war between modern nations that is exclusively about atoms. It will now and forever be primarily about bits. For example:
In this interesting speech, Ben Sasse illustrates this concept using his experience at the top levels of U.S. government and provides audiences with insight that is relevant to their industry.
Ben Sasse served as 13th president of the University of Florida from February 2023 through July 2024. While leading Florida’s flagship land-grant university, Ben moved swiftly to cultivate fresh leadership, construct a UF-wide strategic planning initiative, and ground UF’s priorities in making the highest and best use of public funds. He sought to establish goals that are critical to Gators and the state: more applied research, more focus on lifelong learning for students, and faster, more nimble engagement with exceptional partners.
Passionate about education and teaching, Ben also teaches at UF and previously taught at Yale University, the University of Texas, and Midland University in his Nebraska hometown. Professor Sasse has won teaching awards and holds a history Ph.D. from Yale, where his dissertation won both the Egleston and Theron Rockwell Field best dissertation prizes.
A two-time New York Times national best-selling author, Ben’s career has spanned the private and public sectors. As a turnaround guy working for the Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey and Company, and other private equity firms, Ben has built dozens of teams that built winning strategies.
Ben also served in the U.S. Senate representing Nebraska from 2015 to 2023. His work on the intelligence, finance, and judiciary committees focused on the future of work, the future of foreign policy, and the First Amendment. Ben believes in pluralism, free speech, and the power of ideas to build strong and vibrant communities in our digitally disrupted future.
Ben and his wife, Melissa, have two daughters and a son and currently reside in Gainesville, Florida.
The event was a huge success and Ben was fabulous. He’s such a dynamic speaker and it’s incredible how much he knows about so many topics!
MidOcean Partners, LLP
I had the good fortune of attending the event last night with Ben Sasse and Claire McCaskill with Lindsey Davis. What a remarkable exchange. In these challenging times, we need to keep talking and listening to one another... Bravo to your programming leadership who put this event together.
Attendee, The New Albany Community Foundation
The lecture was so good! Ben Sasse and Claire McCaskill were excellent! It was engaging, funny, and encouraging. How lucky are we to have this timely, civil discussion.
Audience Member, The New Albany Community Foundation
We are so grateful to Ben. I know our members truly enjoyed hearing from him. His conversation was fantastic, really engaging, and so incredibly timely! Members kept coming over to him to chat after the conversation ended. I hope to have him join us again in the future.
Manager at World 50 Group
Mr. Sasse’s experience as a senator in a time of hyperpartisanship gives his analysis a special poignancy… [his] remedies are wise and well-expressed… his prose has a distinctively cheerful warmth throughout. Perhaps at last we have a politician capable of writing a good book rather than having a dull one written for him.
The Wall Street Journal
Sasse is highly attuned to the cultural sources of our current discontents and dysfunctions. … Them is not so much a lament for a bygone era as an attempt to diagnose and repair what has led us to this moment of spittle-flecked rage. …a step toward healing a hurting nation.
National Review
