Meet the 2024 Predict Speakers
Predict speakers provide big picture information through forward-thinking content to help position your organization to be future focused.
Sam Potolicchio, Ph.D.
Dr. Sam Potolicchio, President, Preparing Global Leaders Forum and Founding Executive Director, Center For Global Leadership at American Councils
Dr. Sam Potolicchio was named one of “America’s Best Professors” by the Princeton Review, the Future Leader of American Higher Education by the Association of Colleges and Universities, and winner of the OZY Educator Award as one of the six outstanding American educators. He was also profiled in a cover story on his leadership curriculum by Newsweek Japan as the “Best Professor in America”. Potolicchio is President of the Preparing Global Leaders Forum and Distinguished University Professor, Department Chairman and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Political Science at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. He is a visiting lecturer at the University of Bologna (Italy). He is a columnist for Newsweek Japan, a Distinguished Global Scholar at the Canterbury School of Fort Myers, and a lecturer on Leadership at the Library of Congress for OWLC, an international leadership program of the United States Congress. Potolicchio is an adviser to prominent business, non-profit and government leaders. He created and designed the first undergraduate degree in Global Governance and Leadership in English in the Russian Federation where he serves as Academic Director.
Potolicchio has served as the Director of Global and Custom Education at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, has been a visiting professor at New York University, and joined Senator Richard Lugar as tag team senior lecturers at UIndy’s Semester in Washington. Potolicchio has delivered lectures in over 85 countries, from Oxford, LSE, Cambridge and Yale to Iraq’s Komar University and Donetsk State University. As a middle-school basketball coach, he led his Little Hoyas to 6 league titles and previously served as a 5th grade Latin teacher, public high school teacher of Law and History and secondary school admissions officer.
From 2015-2019 Potolicchio served as the Director of Global and Custom Education at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, has been a visiting professor at New York University, and joined Senator Richard Lugar as tag team senior lecturers at UIndy’s Semester in Washington. Potolicchio has delivered lectures in over 85 countries, from Oxford, LSE, Cambridge and Yale to Iraq’s Komar University and Donetsk State University. As a middle-school basketball coach he led his Little Hoyas to 6 league titles and previously served as a 5th grade Latin teacher, public high school teacher of Law and History and secondary school admissions officer.
Sam received his B.A. Government from Georgetown, B.A. Psychology, Georgetown, M.T.S. Theology and Culture from Harvard, PRSE, Harvard, MA, Government, Georgetown and PhD, Government, Georgetown.
Adam Sacks
President, Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics Company
Adam Sacks is the President of Tourism Economics; an Oxford Economics company dedicated to analytically based consulting to the tourism sector.
For more than two decades, Adam has worked with destinations, industry associations, and companies around the world in the areas of opportunity and risk assessments, policy analysis, and economic impact.
Adam’s work has provided the foundation for billions of dollars in capital investment decisions by hotel companies, developers, and investors. Destination marketing organizations around the world rely on Tourism Economics data and scenario models to inform global marketing investment allocations.
Adam also supports trade associations in the aviation, hotel, and broader travel arena with forecasts widely considered to be an industry standard. And by examining the economic merits of travel facilitation, taxation, and tourism promotion initiatives, Adam’s work has influenced critical government policies.
He is an authority on measuring the economic impact of visitor activity and has analyzed the impacts of cruising, gaming, timeshare, hotels, new attractions and destination marketing.
Adam regularly presents to corporate strategic planning teams on the threats and opportunities facing their businesses and is a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Travel & Tourism Advisory Board.
Sean Watson
Futurist, Senior Vice President of Special Projects at Trend Hunter
Known as a tech enthusiast with a thirst for new information, Sean brings an enthusiasm to Trend Hunter’s content that is unmatched. After amassing an extensive background at companies like Rogers, Bertelsmann and American Express, Sean joined Trend Hunter in 2015 and is now Senior Vice President of Specialty Projects. He has since interviewed over 200 leaders in insight, innovation and strategy to uncover best practices and approaches to facilitating innovation. His keynotes specialize on topics such as technology, entertainment, media and consumer behavior.
Sean’s capabilities span across both innovation, AI and trend work. He specializes in framing Trend Hunter’s findings through the lens of actionability, formulating custom recommendations and specific growth opportunities using a combination of macrotrends and custom innovation frameworks. He has run custom trend sessions and workshops with iconic brands from the tech space and spoken at conferences like TMRE and Future Festival.
