Activate2025 Keynotes
CHIQUITA BROOKS LASURE
For more than 25 years, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure has dedicated her career to ensuring that people in America can live healthy, thriving lives. A nationally respected healthcare policy leader, she was the former Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). In this role, she oversaw programs that impact the lives of more than 150 million Americans, including Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Health Insurance Marketplaces. Her leadership at CMS was marked by a strategic focus on improving health equity, expanding access, and modernizing the nation’s healthcare infrastructure.
With more than 20 years of experience shaping healthcare policy, Brooks-LaSure brings a deep understanding of the legislative and regulatory landscape. She has held senior roles in both the public and private sectors, including as Managing Director at Manatt Health and Director of Coverage Policy at the Department of Health and Human Services. Earlier in her career, she played a key role on Capitol Hill, contributing to the development and passage of the Affordable Care Act while working with the House Ways and Means Committee.
Named one of Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare and recognized by Time Magazine as one of the most admired women leaders in global health, Brooks-LaSure is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a master’s in public policy from Georgetown University.

Activate2025 Healthcare Keynote
KATE O'NEILL
Kate O’Neill is a digital innovator, chief executive, business writer, and globally recognized speaker widely known as the “Tech Humanist.” She is the founder and CEO of KO Insights, a strategic advisory firm that enhances human experiences at scale through data-driven and AI-led interactions. Kate has worked with prestigious clients like Google, IBM, Microsoft, and the United Nations, and she was one of the first 100 employees at Netflix.
Her groundbreaking insights have been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and WIRED, and she has shared her expertise on NPR and the BBC.
Kate has been honored with numerous awards, including “Technology Entrepreneur of the Year” and a spot on Thinkers50’s list of the World’s Management Thinkers to Watch. With six influential books under her belt, including Tech Humanist and A Future So Bright, as well as her latest, released January 2025, What Matters Next.
