Speakers
TEDxWilmette 2026 Speakers
On Saturday, September 26, 2026, at the Wilmette Community Recreation Center, TEDxWilmette will welcome six amazing speakers. These six speakers will share their groundbreaking ideas and unique insights on the 2026 theme: Especially Now.
When the stakes are high, communities with big ideas and big hearts take action. At TEDxWilmette, we explore how, Especially Now, our community can innovate, inspire, and instigate meaningful change. We highlight ideas that prove civic engagement can be civil, generations can find common ground, and technology can create universal opportunity. Let’s define a better future together, Especially Now.
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Allison McEntee
Founder, Kenilworth Cookbook Club
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In a world powered by data, AI, and endless scrolling, Allison believes human connection still matters most. Nine years ago, she founded the Kenilworth Cookbook Club to bring people together around food and conversation. What began at her kitchen table has grown into the nation’s largest network of Cookbook Clubs — creating spaces where strangers become friends and neighbors build lasting bonds. Alongside building community in real life, Allison has spent more than two decades driving growth in the digital world. A seasoned advertising and revenue leader, she has led brand and sales strategy for companies including Nextdoor, Bustle Digital Group, Walmart Connect, Tasting Table, and Food Network. Across both chapters of her career, one belief guides her: meaningful growth — in business and in life — happens because someone chooses to build it.
Arit Nsemo
Founder and Head Coach, woo-woo for winners; Bookseller
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Arit Nsemo is a former Head of Customer Success who spent 15 years in tech startups before founding woo-woo for winners, a coaching practice focused on inner work and high performance. She works with individuals and teams on soft skills mastery, or what she calls the “human algorithms” that help us connect, grow, and trust ourselves. A speaker, yoga teacher, writer, and bookseller at an indie bookstore where she spends her days surrounded by the books she loves, Arit is fascinated by the invisible rules we live by and how we can reshape them in service of both personal sovereignty and genuine community connection.
Karen Smith Wells
COO, Make-A-Wish America
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Karen S. Wells is a transformational leader with more than 30 years of experience across Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit executive leadership, and entrepreneurship. She serves as Chief Operating Officer of Make-A-Wish America, where she helps lead one of the world’s most respected mission-driven organizations with clarity and conviction. Over the course of her career, Karen has held CEO and COO roles in the nonprofit sector and vice president positions at McDonald’s Corporation. An entrepreneur and founder of The KSWells Group, she is a passionate advocate for bold leadership, intentional courage, and purpose-driven change.
Mary McLaughlin
Co-Founder, Trees That Feed Foundation
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Mary McLaughlin was born and educated in Jamaica, and her life has been shaped by a single driving question: how can one idea create lasting change? Trained as a geologist, she built a successful high-end enamel and bone china company whose clients included the White House and Brooks Brothers. Yet success alone was not enough. Seeking deeper purpose, Mary co-founded Trees That Feed Foundation with her husband, Mike, grounded in a bold belief that planting fruit trees can nourish communities, create jobs, and restore the environment. Nearly two decades later, the organization has planted close to half a million food-bearing trees in more than 20 countries. Through breadfruit and other sustainable crops, Mary’s work shows how one simple, scalable idea can transform lives. When she is not advancing this global mission, Mary enjoys time with her husband, children, and grandchildren.
Michelle Buck
Professor, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
Michelle Buck has spent more than 30 years helping leaders maximize their impact and unlock the potential of others. She is a Clinical Professor of Executive Education at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where she teaches leadership and negotiations. Michelle challenges leaders to ask one essential question: “So what?” Her work focuses on turning insight into meaningful impact for organizations and communities. Her writing has appeared in Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, The Hill, and Psychology Today. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree and PhD in social psychology from Princeton University, and is especially honored to participate in TEDxWilmette as a graduate of Regina Dominican High School, an all-girls school in Wilmette.
Dr. Pat E. Perkins
Certified Leadership Strategist and AI Consultant
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Dr. Pat E. Perkins is an award-winning Certified Leadership Strategist, AI consultant, and sought-after speaker who helps leaders translate potential into promotion, influence, and measurable results. A Chicago Defender Women of Excellence Awardee, she brings more than 20 years of corporate leadership and entrepreneurial experience to her work. With a background in project and program management, Dr. Pat has led large-scale technology initiatives for global organizations, including Sara Lee, RR Donnelley, and Aon Hewitt. Today, she works with mid- to senior-level leaders who are ready to stop waiting and start advancing, helping them gain visibility, focus on the right results, and position themselves for their next level of impact. Through high-impact keynotes, workshops, and her signature ADVANCE System™, Dr. Pat equips leaders to navigate today’s workplace with clarity, confidence, and strategic advantage.