CHICAGO, June 4, 2024 — The American Bar Association Presidential Speaker Series will feature “A Conversation with Pinterest CEO Bill Ready and CLO Wanji Walcott” moderated by Donna Zarcone, independent corporate director and former CEO. The program can be viewed on Thursday, June 6, at 3 p.m. EDT online. No advance registration is required.
Topics will include the evolution of Pinterest’s strategy and its vision for the future, how artificial intelligence is impacting Pinterest and technology companies, the working relationship between a CEO and CLO and how lawyers can pursue a career path in the corporate sector. The discussion also will focus on how Pinterest, one of the world’s largest social media platforms, concentrates on positivity.
Ready has been chief executive officer and a director on Pinterest’s board since June 2022. He previously held positions at Google, PayPal and McKinsey. Walcott joined Pinterest as chief legal, business affairs officer and corporate secretary in 2022 and oversees the ethics and compliance, legal, corporate affairs, public policy and trust and safety teams at the company. Walcott has also worked at Discover Financial and PayPal.
The ABA Presidential Speaker Series, an initiative of ABA President Mary Smith, is a collection of diverse virtual conversations with globally recognized figures, spotlighting trailblazers and thinkers shaping our collective future. Under the theme “Lifting Our Voices, Charting the Future,” these fireside chats promote dialogue, civility and exposure to diverse viewpoints, innovative ideas and career insights.
Previous episodes featured Ivo H. Daalder, former U.S. ambassador to NATO and current chief executive officer of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (view here); civil rights icon Dolores Huerta (view here); Native American women “firsts,” including Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (view here); experts on artificial intelligence from the ABA Task Force on Law and Artificial Intelligence on how AI will affect the legal landscape (view here); Martin Scorsese, Academy Award-winning director, producer, screenwriter and director of the film “Killers of the Flower Moon,” along with Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear, principal chief of the Osage Nation (view here); former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Charles Johnson and former federal judge J. Michael Luttig, co-chairs of the ABA Task Force for American Democracy, discussing “Democracy in Peril” (view here); former Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier and former American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault discussing “The Business of Democracy” in a special Black History Month program (view here); former U.S. treasurer and chair of the United States Semiquincentennial Commission Rosie Rios (view here); and special Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month program with Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii (view here).
Additional programs will be announced. Fostering civic dialogue and highlighting differing perspectives and experiences, these special programs are free to ABA members and the public. More information on the Presidential Speaker Series can be found at ambar.org/PresidentialSeries.
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