Renowned author and editor-in-chief of Wired magazine, Chris Anderson is an important voice at the center of the new economy, identifying new trends in the economy and describing new business models for seizing the opportunities they represent.

In his bestselling “The Long Tail,” Chris identified the rise of the niche as a powerful new force in our economy. His most recent book is now available in paperback with the title “Free: How Today’s Smartest Businesses Profit by Giving Something for Nothing.”

In presentations based on this research, Chris explains how to thrive through “freeconomics” andwhat business models look like when free has emerged as a full-fledge economy.

Prior to joining Wired, Chris worked at The Economist for seven years in various positions and served as an editor at the two premier science journals, Science and Nature. He has a degree in physics from George Washington University, and has worked as a researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Cheryl Duwve serves as Vice President of Customer Support for Roche’s North American Diabetes Care, and also supports the Point of Care Diagnostics division. Duwve’s prior experience includes providing market strategy for St. Vincent Health, an integrated health care delivery system, with nine affiliate hospitals, multiple joint ventures, and physician practices; leading the Midwest regional operations of CIGNA/Healthsource, a national managed care organization and insurance company; and serving as Executive Director of the Indianapolis Alliance for Health Promotion. She has Bachelors degrees in Psychology and Health Science and a Masters degree in Public Health.

Blake Mycoskie is the man behind the One for One movement. After witnessing the hardships facing children in Argentina growing up barefoot, he felt a need to help, and returned the following year with friends and family to hand-place 10,000 pairs of new shoes on children. TOMS Shoes has now given over one million pairs of new shoes to children in need around the world.

Blake has always had an entrepreneurial spirit; he created five businesses since college. His first was a successful national campus laundry service, which he later sold. Between business ventures, Blake competed in the CBS primetime series, The Amazing Race. With his sister, Paige, Blake traveled the world and came within minutes of winning the $1 million dollar grand prize.

He put this same tenacity for success into starting TOMS in 2006. Since then, the company has been honored with the prestigious People’s Design Award from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution and the Secretary of State’s 2009 Award for Corporate Excellence, which celebrates companies’ commitment to corporate social responsibility, innovation, exemplary practices, and democratic values worldwide.

Blake is an avid reader and traveler who currently lives on a sailboat in Los Angeles. A favorite quote of his by Gandhi is: “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Todd joined Genentech 2002 and quickly rose to head IT, establishing a clear blueprint for the group’s mission, strategies, projects, and communication channels. He has led the transformation of the company’s IT systems through the company’s growth from $1.5B to over $11B in annual revenues. This included implementation of ERP and new systems to support research, development, manufacturing, commercial operations, finance, HR, and legal. Genentech is an industry leader in mobility, collaboration, SAAS and other cloud and virtualization technologies.

Today, Todd is SVP and CIO of Informatics for Genentech, as well as the global head of IT for Roche Global Commercial Operations. As Genentech CIO, Todd sets strategy for and leads the company’s Informatics group and strategy. As head of Global Commercial Informatics, he is responsible for Roche’s pharmaceutical sales and marketing IT support in over 100 countries. The IT group is acknowledged for its passion for customer service, as well as employee development. In 2010, Genentech Informatics appeared at #15 on ComputerWorld’s 100 Great Places to Work in IT, its third year on the list.

Initially trained as a veterinary surgeon, Pascal Soriot joined Roche in 2006 (from Sanofi-Aventis) and has been COO of Pharmaceuticals at Roche Holding AG since January 1, 2010. He served as CEO of Genentech in the months following the acquisition by Roche. Prior to this he served as head of Commercial Operations at Roche Holding and head of the Strategic Marketing Pharma division.

Over the past year, Pascal has led Roche’s “Operational Excellence” program, designed to help the organization become leaner, more productive and better equipped to focus on the core business of pharmaceutical innovation and development of differentiated medicines.