South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conference and Festivals (March 8–17, 2019) has announced the addition of Keynote Joseph Lubin and a new round of Featured Speakers to the 2019 programming lineup.
Among the Featured Speakers revealed today are actor, comedian and writer Ike Barinholtz; VP of Amazon Web Services Sandy Carter; award-winning chef Dominique Crenn; cannabis rights activist Steve DeAngelo; actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson; Senior Advisor to the Obama Foundation and author Valerie Jarrett; musician Wyclef Jean; Director of the Digital Currency Initiative at the MIT Media Lab Neha Narula; author and entrepreneur Neil Pasricha; former Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz; actress and entrepreneur Zoe Saldana; award-winning journalist and author Maria Shriver; EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager; author Frank Warren; author and Kiip co-founder and CEO Brian Wong; actress and comedian Sasheer Zamata; CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker, and more.
Joseph Lubin is the Founder of ConsenSys, and co-founder of blockchain platform Ethereum, a decentralized application platform incorporating a virtual machine that executes peer-to-peer contracts based on cryptocurrency micropayments. Lubin joins previously-announced Keynotes Shirley Manson and Lauren Mayberry (Music), Marti Noxon (Film), and Kevin Systrom with Josh Constine (Interactive).
“Lubin is one of the foremost visionaries shaping the rapidly-developing blockchain industry, and as such we’re excited to have him as the first-ever Keynote complementing the Blockchain & Cryptocurrency track in the second half of SXSWeek, ” said Hugh Forrest, Chief Programming Officer. “The speakers announced today run the gamut of conference content, exemplifying our standing as the foremost destination for creative people to gain the skills, knowledge, and inspiration to achieve their goals.”
SXSW Conference programming is organized into 25 tracks divided between Interactive, Film, Music, and Convergence, presented in a variety of session formats. Once again, SXSW is offering expanded access to events for all registrants. Attendees will receive primary access to programming associated with their badge type but now also enjoy secondary entry to most other SXSW events.
