Good question Jess.
This person would need to be both inspiring and famous, as former speakers have been. We have had Dan Goldin (2001?), Jeff Bezos (2002), Chuck Yeager (2003), and Larry Page (2005) recently. Each were inspiring in their own right. While I preferred Yeager's speech, Page and Bezos may relate better to the students. It is also good to have a speaker who is not a hugely controversial figure. However, people at that level all have detractors to some extent.
In no particular order, here are some candidates:
1.
Burt Rutan would be excellent for 2 reasons: 1. His recent accomplishments with Space Ship One are inspiring because of his innovation and entrepreneurial spirit.
2. He attended the 1992 US FIRST competition and served as a judge. (Jeff & Ken beat me to this one, but he is my first choice)
2.
Roger Penske is an inspiring figure, although controversial in the racing community. His business and corporate ties are immense, he has a competitive spirit, and his cars lead the way in innovation. He is unique in the fact that he is powerful in both the corporate and competitive sports worlds.
3.
Meg Whitman, ebay CEO, leads an innovative company that has changed the way people buy and sell things along with how small companies operate. She would definitely be inspiring and she is in the same field as Bezos and Page.
4.
Rick Wagoner, GM CEO, could talk about technology development at GM, highlighting the Hydrogen fuel cell platform and hybrid technologies. He is a no-nonsense-type speaker, but he is also a controversial leader since GM has many "issues" to deal with these days.
5. Former Presidents Clinton and Bush (41) have done much globe-trotting during the past few years to help raise money for relief efforts. Either one would be welcome to talk about "what the world needs" with regard to innovative solutions to energy issues, world hunger, disease cure & control, and other major issues. They could help inspire students to fix these problems. Either would be inspiring to the audience, as long as they keep away from partisan politics.
Plus, these two have both given attention to FIRST in the past by inviting winning and Chairman's Award teams to the White House.
There are many more, and I am eager to hear other ideas.
Andy B.