In The News

Hailed by CNN as “the infectious disease expert who has been warning us for a decade and a half that the world will face a pandemic,” Dr. Michael Osterholm quickly became the go-to expert on the public health impact of COVID-19. A sharp critic of the complacency that led to the current global pandemic, he points to current shortfalls in our system, individual and public health ...

New York Times best-selling author (Range, The Sports Gene) and high performance expert, APB speaker David Epstein has been tapped to take over the widely popular podcast, How To!, previously hosted by Charles Duhigg (author of the acclaimed book, The Power of Habit). Described as a Dear Abby but through the lens of an investigative reporter, the podcast takes on listeners’ toughest problems and, with the help of experts, finds the answers to questions you’ve always wanted to ask, but couldn’t. The first episode with Epstein will feature a cognitive scientist teaching listeners how to perform their best under pressure.

One was from Brooklyn. The other from the Bronx. Both grew up as diehard Brooklyn Dodgers fans, eventually leaving New York as their beloved team had. At the height of their respective  careers, both were described as “kings”:  Larry King was the “king of talk,” and Robert Walker, “the king of talkies” (as Newsweek described the “lecture industry” in a feature on Walker). When the news of Larry King’s death reached the world, millions mourned, remembering the legendary broadcaster. But for Walker, the CEO and founder of APB, who represented King from the mid-1970s until his death, it was a passing of tremendous personal significance.

By Robert P. Walker, CEO & Founder APB Speakers | When the pandemic hit last March, the event business changed forever.  As our clients scrambled to either cancel events featuring our speakers or struggled with how to go virtual,  APB immediately went to work. Our mission: to offer a virtual platform that would be the next-best thing to an in-person event.

Paralympic medalist and APB speaker Blake Leeper was recently at Scott Sabolich Prosthetics in Oklahoma City being fitted for prosthetics when he discovered that a toddler was down the hall, preparing to walk for the first time in his new prosthesis. In a heartwarming video that has now gone viral, Leeper is heard encouraging and supporting the 2-year-old, saying: “I got my legs on now! I am ready! I’m ready for you! You’re doing great! You’re doing awesome! Look…mine look like yours!”

Former NASA Astronaut and New York Times bestselling author Mike Massimino is a veteran of two space shuttle missions and four spacewalks. The first person to tweet from space, he holds the team record for the most spacewalking time on a single space shuttle mission. Recently Mike’s book, Spaceman, was chosen by the National Science Teaching Association as one of the “Best STEM Books 2021." Written especially for young readers, the book tells the incredible story of his arduous journey to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming an astronaut. 

Lindsay Peoples Wagner, who made media history as both one of the nation’s youngest editors-in-chief and one of the rare Black women in that role, has left Teen Vogue to become editor-in-chief of The Cut, New York magazine’s style and culture site. 

As a teacher, educational consultant and parent for 40 years, Dr. Michele Borba has never been more worried for young people than she is about this current generation of kids. Across the nation, student mental health is plummeting, depression rates among teens are rising, kids are reporting severe anxiety at ever-younger ages–and the pandemic has only exacerbated this crisis. In her forthcoming book—and new speech topic of the same name—Dr. Borba offers a sharply insightful look into the essential character strengths kids need to flourish in a rapidly changing, digitally-driven and uncertain world.

“Impeaching Donald Trump or invoking the 25^th Amendment won’t get us very far.” In his latest opinion piece in TIME magazine, APB exclusive speaker Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr. shares his thoughts on last week’s events at the Capitol with his sights set on both history and the future. “The mob made concrete the threat of white nationalism to the nation,” writes Glaude. “But I have to say, and America’s history is my witness, that impeaching Donald Trump or invoking the 25th Amendment will not get us very far.” Honing in on the historic threat of white supremacism, Glaude calls for “President-elect Biden to direct his Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland to rid the nation of these groups. That will involve a widespread investigation of the scope and extent of the penetration of white supremacists into law enforcement throughout the country and a plan to purge police departments of these elements.” He also calls for Congress to hold live, televised hearings that “should expose the workings of white supremacy groups, create the conditions for the eradication of organizations like the Proud Boys, and lay the groundwork for legislation that will, once and for all, banish these groups from the body politic.”

From Raphael Warnock’s historic ascent to the Senate to the inner circles of the Pentagon and White House, APB celebrates the achievements of our exclusive speakers.