This year’s DealBook Summit will include conversations with global leaders and powerful figures from Wall Street, Silicon Valley and Hollywood. Each has been at the heart of the news this year and will be at the center of some of the biggest events in the months ahead.
Kamala Harris was elected vice president of the United States in 2020, after serving as a senator, the attorney general of California and the district attorney of San Francisco. Ms. Harris is expected to play a vital role in the 2024 presidential race. She will be tasked with helping to win over voters worried about President Biden’s age, squeezed by inflation and disconcerted by administration policies, including strong support for Israel in its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Tsai Ing-wen has been president of Taiwan since 2016, following a career as a civil servant and law professor. Ms. Tsai has recalibrated relations with the United States and China as growing tensions between the world’s two most powerful countries have put Taiwan at center of a geopolitical fight. She will step down as president in January, at the end of her second term.
Elon Musk oversees some of the world’s biggest and most consequential technology companies: Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink and X. The world’s wealthiest man with an estimated net worth of more than $242 billion, Mr. Musk is also a deeply divisive figure. X, formerly known as Twitter, has seen a sharp drop in core advertising revenue since his $44 billion takeover of the company, including a backlash over his endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory.
Jamie Dimon has been the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase since 2006 and its chairman since 2007, making him one of Wall Street’s longest-serving banking leaders. This year, he led efforts to come up with a rescue deal to the regional bank crisis that culminated in JPMorgan’s acquisition of First Republic.
Jensen Huang founded Nvidia in 1993 and is the company’s president and chief executive. The Silicon Valley company has been a pioneer in making chips used in artificial intelligence applications, such ChatGPT. This year, it became the first publicly traded chipmaker to be valued at $1 trillion.
Bob Iger returned as Disney’s chief executive last year, after stepping down from the role in 2020. Long one of the media industry’s most prominent leaders, he spearheaded multibillion-dollar takeovers of Fox, Marvel and Pixar that cemented Disney’s status as a Hollywood hit factory. But Mr. Iger now faces challenges at the box office, in core television properties like ESPN, and in streaming. He’s also dealing with scrutiny from activist investors.
Lina Khan was sworn in two years ago as chair of the Federal Trade Commission, where she has earned a reputation as one of the most active antitrust regulators in recent years. She was an associate professor of law at Columbia Law School but rose to prominence long before then, when as a law student she wrote an article about the new antitrust threat raised by tech companies like Amazon that offer consumers services at no cost and instead profit from the data they collect. As head of the F.T.C., Ms. Khan has tested her legal theories out in a series of court cases, prompting accusations by business groups that she has “radically departed” from the F.T.C.’s mission.
David Zaslav orchestrated Discovery’s takeover of WarnerMedia and became the chief executive of the new company, Warner Bros. Discovery, last year. The transaction helped transform his modest cable television company into an empire that includes the Warner Bros. movie and TV studios, HBO and CNN. His leadership of the media giant faces significant hurdles, however, including paying down billions of dollars in debt and managing turmoil at key properties including CNN.
Jay Monahan was forced to deal with an existential threat as commissioner of the PGA Tour: LIV Golf. With the backing of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the upstart competitor began hosting tournaments last year. But in June, Mr. Monahan struck a tentative deal to end the rivalry — and took a medical leave of absence days after the announcement rocked the sports world. This will be one of his first in-depth interviews since his return.
Representative Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, served as speaker of the House from January until October, when he was ousted by far-right members of his own party — the first time the House has voted to remove its leader. Mr. McCarthy has found himself increasingly out of step with parts of the Republican Party and must soon decide if he will run for re-election.
Shonda Rhimes is the chief executive of Shondaland and the first woman to create three television dramas — “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Private Practice” and “Scandal” — to achieve the 100-episode milestone. In 2017, Ms. Rhimes left network television to produce streaming content exclusively for Netflix, and her work has touched on major political issues, including abortion and gun laws.