Theme: Little Rocks Create Avalanches

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

100 River Market Avenue
Little Rock, Arkansas
United States

Anthony C. Johnson

Anthony C, Johnson is the CEO and co-Founder of American Injury Attorney Group and a managing partner of Johnson & Vines, PLLC. Both companies are committed to raising awareness of potential claims for people harmed by dangerous drugs, defective medical devices, product recalls, and other personal injury cases around the country. Johnson received a BA in computer engineering from the University of Arkansas and a Juris Doctorate from UALR Bowen School of Law. Prior to becoming an attorney, Anthony worked in web development, internet startups, and finance. He has been published by Forbes, Inc., Yahoo!, ABA Journal, and many others relating to his tech expertise and law firm business strategies. He has been named one of “America’s Techiest Lawyers” by the American Bar Association, Top 40 Under 40 National Trial Lawyers, and has presented at the United Nations as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under 35 by Empact Showcase.

Celia Anderson

Young Author, Celia Anderson, gives a new face to literature that resonates with this generation. Coupling her love for basketball and education, Celia has traveled to over fifty venues throughout the United States to deliver her original school wide presentation G.A.M.E.T.I.M.E., which motivates students to “get in the game of life”. The former basketball player for the Lady Razorbacks also played professionally in Greece before going on to work for New York Times bestselling author the late E. Lynn Harris. Her years of dedication and hard work landed her first publishing deal with Random House in a compilation of short stories alongside Mr. Harris. In 2011, she presented at the Congressional Black Caucus and was inducted into the Multi Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame, for using her sports platform to empower her community. Celia teaches at Northwest Arkansas Community College and works for the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Chane "Epiphany" Morrow

Through stories, humor, and vulnerability walk with Epiphany Morrow as he talks about how he approaches his fears and challenges others to do the same.

Charles D. Morgan

Charles D. Morgan serves as CEO and Chairman of his latest tech venture, PrivacyStar. He is also author of his memoir “Matters of Life and Data: The Remarkable Journey of a Big Data Visionary Whose Work Impacted Millions (Including You!)“. During his tenure as Chairman and CEO from 1972-2008, he lead Acxiom Corporation from an early-stage company to an international corporation with over 7,400 employees around the globe and $1.4 billion in annual revenue. While there, Morgan instilled a unique business culture at Acxiom, which was named five times to Fortune magazine’s list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For in America.” Morgan has raced motorcycles, flown jets, and built and driven his own sport race cars in a professional career that includes victories at both the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Daytona, along with 17 other wins. A native Arkansan, he and his wife, Susie, reside in Little Rock, Arkansas. They have three children and seven grandchildren.

Chris James

Chris James a 25 year old native of Little Rock. He is a national award winning poet, playwright, author and photographer. Chris is a member of Foreign Tongues national poetry slam team. He is an active advocate of the Arkansas art and literacy movement. Chris is a teaching artist and member of the Arkansas Arts Council. He currently partners with organizations such as Arkansas Learning through the Arts, Arkansas A Plus, Wildwood Parks for the Arts and Thea Foundation to impact hundreds of students all-around the state through art integrated education. He is the Founder and Executive Director of The Roots Art Connection and The House of Art. Chris James is also member and 2014 Scholarship recipient of Alternate ROOTs in Atlanta, Georgia.

Cotton Rohrscheib

Cotton Rohrscheib is the CEO of Rohrscheib Capital Partners. Over the past 20 years he has been associated with numerous projects in the IT, Healthcare, and Agriculture industries. Born a serial entrepreneur, Cotton has personally been involved in several startups, product launches, and brand acquisitions during his career and has consulted on hundreds of projects for clients around the world. Having grown up on his family’s farm in Eastern Arkansas, he is very familiar with farm management and traditional row crop production. His family has also been involved in beef & cattle production for 3 generations and has numerous operations around the state. Cotton’s passion has always been to introduce emerging technologies into agriculture to create solutions that not only assist in farm management but also increase production, profitability, and sustainability.

Dr. Curtis Lowery

Chairperson for the UAMS Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dr. Curtis Lowery has served as the Director of Obstetrics at UAMS since 1992. He has facilitated the process in which Arkansas insurance handles telemedicine, increased Medicaid reimbursements and promoted understanding of telemedicine, and brought telehealth access to over 60 hospitals and clinics in Arkansas providing medical consultations combined with provider and patient education. Dr. Lowery established ANGELS (Antenatal and Neonatal Guidelines, Education and Learning System), a Medicaid-funded, cost-effective programmatic solution to assist Arkansas’s high-risk pregnancies. Dr. Lowery was instrumental in establishing the UAMS Center for Distance Health, a technology-based partnership of the College of Medicine and Regional Programs. This Center directly offers telemedicine, continuing medical and health education, public health education, and evaluation research through interactive video throughout Arkansas.

Dr. Omon Fitzgerald Hill

Dr. Fitzgerald Hill is the president of Arkansas Baptist College. He is a passionate and innovative educator who works tirelessly to educate the underserved population, particularly African American males. The college president and former major college head football coach desires to see the community that ABC calls home reach its fullest potential. On Feb. 1, 2006, Hill accepted the challenges associated with becoming the 13th president of Arkansas Baptist College. The school was founded in 1884 by former slaves. The campus houses the oldest building in Arkansas dedicated to educating African Americans and has fought for creating equal education access since it origin. The college’s history is one that is rich and varied, particularly due to its location near Little Rock Central High School, where one of the civil rights era’s seminal events took place in 1957 involving the Little Rock Nine.

Dr. Stephen J. Canon

Stephen J. Canon, M.D. is a board certified urologist and an Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and co-founder of Phyzit, Inc. Dr. Canon is Chief of Pediatric Urology at Arkansas Children’s Hospital and is the UAMS Department of Urology Residency Program Director. He received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch and completed a fellowship at the Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He is a native Texan who has spent time in the mid-south after completing his residency in urology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, TN. Dr. Canon provides treatment for all pediatric urological conditions including hypospadias, spina bifida, and kidney stones. His current research interests include minimally invasive surgery procedures for pediatric urology patients, hypospadias, and the usage of electronic medical records in Pediatric Urology.

I. Barry Goldberg

I. Barry Goldberg is an Executive Coach and facilitates CEO and Key Executive advisory boards in association with Vistage International. In his private client work, Barry has served a wide range of firms including CitiGroup, International Thompson Publishing, DeutscheBank, Talisman Energy, GN Netcom Denmark, Calyx UK LTD, FIS Asia and US Steel. Barry facilitates leadership development workshops with high risk/ high stress field missions for the United Nations and is a Vietnam veteran. He earned a BA in History and Slavic languages at the University of Texas and holds a Graduate Certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University. Barry teaches coaching ethics in the Institute for Transformational Leadership at Georgetown University’s Center for Professional Development Leadership Coaching program. He served as Vice Chair for the Global Ethics and Standards committee for the International Coach Federation and holds a PCC credential from the ICF.

James L. “Skip” Rutherford III

Skip Rutherford of Little Rock is Dean of the University of Arkansas Clinton School (UACS) of Public Service. UACS opened in 2005 and is located on the grounds of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park in Little Rock, Arkansas. It was the first school in the country offering a Master’s degree in public service. A graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, he received the Journalism Department’s first Distinguished Alumnus Award. He has an extensive private sector background in communications and public relations and has served as a visiting professor at the University of Arkansas; Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas; the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Arkansas; and the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Arkansas. In 2015 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas.

Lynette Watts

Lynnette Watts is the executive director of the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas (WFA), a post she has held since 2009. In addition to her duties at the WFA, Watts has signed on as a board member for the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame (HOF), which will be a mobile, interactive exhibit that tells the incredible stories of Arkansas women who have made a significant impact in the state and nation. Watts serves on the public facilities board for Heifer International and is a founding member of the Arkansas Boathouse Club. She has also lent her talents to Christopher Homes; Catherine’s House; served as cross country and track coach for Mount St. Mary Academy; and is a master gardener. Watts contributed to the paper “Social & Economic Status of Women in Arkansas, 2012” and “1973/2013: A Then & Now Report on the Status of Women in Arkansas.”

Minnijean Brown-Trickey

Minnijean Brown-Trickey made history as one of the Little Rock Nine, the nine African-American students who desegregated Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The world watched as they braved constant intimidation and threats from those who opposed desegregation of the formerly all-white high school. Trickey is a social activist and has worked on behalf of peacemaking, environmental issues, developing youth leadership, diversity education and training, cross-cultural communication, and gender and social justice advocacy. She served in the Clinton administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Workforce Diversity at the Department of the Interior from 1999 to 2001. She has taught social work at Carleton University in Ottawa Canada and in various community colleges in Canada. In 1999, President Bill Clinton presented the nation’s highest civilian award, the Congressional Gold Medal, to the members of the Little Rock Nine.

P. Allen Smith

P. Allen Smith has parlayed a lifelong passion for the natural world into a career that allows him to share garden, home, and lifestyle knowledge and insights with a worldwide audience. As a conservationist, author, and television host he is a trusted resource for tried-and-true methods as well as cutting-edge knowledge in the small farm and garden communities. His obsession with historic preservation has led to a continually growing collection of uncommon plant and animal species including heritage roses, daffodils, vegetables, fruits, and chickens and other poultry; these genetics are all conserved on his farm in central Arkansas. He founded the Heritage Poultry Conservancy, dedicated to the preservation and support of threatened breeds and strains of domestic poultry. Allen is an advocate for all things natural, a lover of rich soil, thoughtful food, and old-school flocks, he seeks to redefine the iconic American farm, while sharing design, beauty, and bounty along the way.