What the future holds: Big picture trends in the digital landscape, crowdfunding, fake news and more

Who better to peer into the future than experts on the digital landscape, social media and disruptive technologies? How about a best-selling author who wrote a book about one of the worst corporate scandals in U.S. history? Or the founder of a nonprofit seeking to inspire and empower communities of those suffering with rare diseases? This varied group of experts will present their insights into what the next decade holds as part of the 2019 Ten Years Hence Lecture Series, a signature event organized by the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. The annual series features experts from diverse backgrounds and industries who will explore issues, ideas and trends likely to affect business and society over the next decade. The lectures, which are free and open to the public, take place 10:40 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. on select Fridays throughout the spring semester in Mendoza’s Jordan Auditorium. Each talk is followed by a Q&A session where students, faculty and other attendees can use guest speaker comments as a springboard for structured speculation about emerging issues.The lineup includes journalist Bethany McLean, author of “The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron,” and Charles Adler, founder of global crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. The 2019 schedule is as follows: Jan. 25: Tim Weninger, assistant professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, “Social Networks, Fake News and Process Disruption” CANCELED Feb. 1: Robbie Kellman Baxter, founder of Peninsula Strategies, “The Membership Economy” Feb. 8: Sandro Cattacin, sociology professor at the University of Geneva, “Mobility, Networking and Innovation: Are We Facing a Paradigm Shift in Migration Research?” (Cattacin’s talk is co-sponsored by the Nanovic Institute for European Studies at the University of Notre Dame.) March 1: Nicole Boice, founder of Global Genes, “Enabling What’s Possible for Rare Disease” March 22: Howard Tullman, executive director of the Kaplan Family Institute at the Illinois Institute of Technology, “The Digital Landscape: Trends in Technology You Need to Know About” April 5: Bethany McLean, best-selling author and contributing editor of Vanity Fair magazine, “Two Decades of Covering Business: A Journalist’s View” April 12: Charles Adler, founder of Kickstarter, “Kickstarter: How Technology Disrupts Markets and Empowers Entrepreneurs” (Adler’s talk is co-sponsored by the IDEA Center at the University of Notre Dame in conjunction with IDEA Week 2019.) Ten Years Hence is sponsored by the O'Brien-Smith Leadership Program made possible by a generous endowment from William H. O'Brien (ND '40) and his wife, Dee.  The program is named after their respective parents. The O’Brien-Smith Program endowment provides an opportunity for students and faculty to interact with distinguished leaders from business, government and nonprofit sectors. For more information, visit the Ten Years Hence website. Contact: Jean Meade, Mendoza College of Business project administrator, 574-631-3277, jean.meade@nd.edu