Iowa Ideas keynotes feature UI women’s coaches, Facebook whistleblower

If there’s one thing to remember about this year’s Iowa Ideas keynotes, it’s that these women didn’t hesitate when it came time to take their shot.

On the court — or in life.

This year’s keynote speakers have shown tremendous courage, intelligence and passion on their way to truly impactful careers that transcend Iowa’s state lines.

Keynotes: Lisa Bluder and Jan Jensen, Iowa women’s basketball

University of Iowa women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder and longtime associate head coach Jan Jensen will kick off this year’s Iowa Ideas virtual conference talking about leadership and how they’ve built the UI program into one of the most stable, successful and admired programs in the country.

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The coaches will talk about leadership, developing potential, shared goals and navigating adversity — while at the same time having some fun along the way.

“They’ve demonstrated leadership, teamwork and consistency that goes far beyond basketball, and they’ve modeled leadership consistently through the years,” said Gazette Executive Editor Zack Kucharski, who will moderate the conversation. “We’ve watched them help the Hawkeyes show tremendous growth and success at the highest levels, and we’re excited to learn from them.”

Their opening keynote gets underway at 9 a.m. Oct 12.

All Iowa Ideas sessions are free, though registration is required at IowaIdeas.com.

Keynote: Frances Haugen, Facebook whistleblower

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Frances Haugen, an Iowa City West High School graduate, will be the afternoon keynote Oct. 12. Haugen will speak about free speech, accountability and transparency in social media and some of the domestic and international policy work being done in the hopes of making social platforms safer and more accountable. She’ll share some of the work her current group, Beyond the Screen, is doing to develop social platform accountability and the work she’s doing to expand awareness of how social platforms work — and why you should care even if you don’t use social platforms yourself.

Haugen, a specialist in algorithmic product management, also will discuss her Iowa roots and why she became a whistleblower against her former employer, Facebook (now known as Meta), and what led her to eventually file a series of complaints with the federal government, asserting the company misled the public and investors on how it handled misinformation, hate speech, information on climate change and the impact the company’s services had on mental health of children and young adults.

The keynote will contain about 15 minutes of general remarks, followed by a moderated conversation in which participants can ask questions. The keynote takes place 3:30 p.m. Oct. 12.

Closing keynote: Leslie J. Williams, biopharmaceutical entrepreneur

This year’s closing keynote features Leslie J. Williams, a 25-year biopharmaceutical veteran who is co-founder, director and chief executive officer of Cambridge, Mass.,-based hC Bioscience. The company’s precision protein editing is creating unique tRNA-based therapies that correct the proteins caused by many forms of DNA coding errors.

Her latest venture comes in partnership with UI researcher Chris Ahern.

“I really like building something that solves a significant unmet need,” Williams said when higher education reporter Vanessa Miller profiled her earlier this year.

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Williams has had a career in which unexpected ends have propelled major successes and is now working to surround herself with young scientists and female CEOs in a “biotech sisterhood.”

Williams got her start at Iowa, where she got her B.S. degree in nursing and worked at the UI Hospitals and Clinics. Before entering the biopharmaceutical industry, Williams also worked as a nurse at Duke University and Medical College of Virginia.

She has her B.S. degree in nursing from the UI and MBA from Washington University John Olin School of Business.

The closing keynote is set for noon Oct. 13.

Register for free at IowaIdeas.com