2026 CEO Summit
Oct. 7–9, 2026

A native Floridian with blue-collar roots, Governor DeSantis grew up in Dunedin and worked his way through Yale University, where he was the captain of the varsity baseball team, and graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, where he earned a commission in the U.S. Navy as a JAG officer. He deployed to Iraq in support of the SEAL mission in Fallujah, Ramadi, and the rest of the Al Anbar province.

In 2018, Ron DeSantis was elected the 46th Governor of Florida. As Governor, he has led across a wide range of issues by successfully navigating Florida through the COVID pandemic, protecting Floridians from the harmful impacts of illegal immigration, expanding school choice, promoting public safety (with a record 50-year crime low in the state), keeping Florida’s economy strong, ensuring road improvement projects are fully funded and ahead of schedule, and making historic investments in environmental conservation and stewardship.

Thanks to the Governor’s efforts, Florida ranks #1 for economy (among all 50 states); for education (two years in a row); for higher education (eight years in a row); for attracting and developing a talented workforce; for parental empowerment and educational freedom; for tourism and net in-migration; and for law enforcement recruiting and support.

Governor DeSantis is married to Casey DeSantis, an Emmy Award-winning television anchor. Together, they’re the proud parents of their daughters, Madison and Mamie, and their son, Mason.

Eric Metaxas is the author of seven New York Times bestsellers, including the groundbreaking, million-selling biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. His new book is REVOLUTION: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World. Eric is the founder and host of Socrates in the City and The Eric Metaxas Show.

Known for his wide-ranging conversations, he has interviewed Hollywood icons such as Ron Howard, Mel Gibson, Morgan Freeman, and Dick Cavett, as well as tech entrepreneurs such as Peter Thiel. His work has been translated into over twenty-five languages and has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, USA Today and many other publications. His writing, which includes more than thirty children’s books, has inspired a documentary based on the book Letter to the American Church, influenced a Hollywood film on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and led to a streaming series based on the bestselling book Is Atheism Dead?

Rex D. Geveden is president and chief executive officer of BWXT, a $3.2B nuclear technology and manufacturing company headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia. As CEO, Mr. Geveden directs all business operations and leads strategic planning, capital allocation and leadership succession.

BWXT manufactures nuclear reactors, fuel and components for the U.S. Navy; provides nuclear technical services at contractor-operated Department of Energy and other government laboratories and facilities; develops and manufactures microreactors for national security and space applications; and processes special nuclear materials and advanced nuclear fuels. BWXT also manufactures medical radioisotopes and supplies precision manufactured components, engineering services and fuel for the commercial nuclear power industry.

With about 10,000 employees, BWXT has 20 major operating sites in the U.S., Canada and Europe, comprising over four million square feet of manufacturing space. In addition, BWXT joint ventures operate at more than a dozen U.S. Department of Energy and Canadian Nuclear Laboratory sites. Mr. Geveden joined BWXT in 2015 as chief operating officer (COO) before advancing to CEO in 2017. Previously, he advanced to the position of executive vice president at Teledyne Technologies over an eight-year period, ultimately leading the Digital Imaging and Engineered Systems segments of the business.

He spent 17 years at NASA, including service as the agency’s COO responsible for a $16 billion portfolio of work in NASA’s mission areas of science, aeronautics, space operations and exploration, along with oversight of NASA’s 10 field centers. Mr. Geveden chairs the board of TTM Technologies, Inc., a global electronics manufacturing company. He is also on the Board of Trustees of the Universities Research Association and is a member of the Wall Street Journal CEO Council. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics from Murray State University.

Suzy Deering is disrupting today’s modern sports marketing landscape and building the agency of the future at Publicis Sports. Through strategic acquisitions, partnerships and an integrated model combining data, sports expertise and creator partnerships, she helps brands grow fan engagement and maximize sports investments.

As a former global CMO with over three decades of experience at Disney, Verizon Wireless, Home Depot, eBay and Ford Motor Company, she has an innate understanding of today’s modern marketing challenges and the importance of linking sports, culture and technology to reach the always-on fan. Recognized by Adweek, Ad Age and Business Insider for her leadership, she is passionate about mentoring future leaders and ushering in the next era of data-driven sports marketing.

She calls Bluffton, SC home where she resides with her husband, Ron and their three dogs; Crew, Stokes and Zeus.

Visionary Civil Engineer and transformative three term Mayor of Arlington, Texas, W. Jeff Williams has masterfully shaped communities through award winning projects and bold civic leadership. He has spent his life designing spaces and strategies that bring people together and create a sense of belonging, whether it’s a park, a stadium, a downtown or an entire city.

In his role as civil engineer and CEO of Graham Associates, his firm realized great success on a wide range of projects from the Dallas Cowboys home, AT&T Stadium, to Warren Buffet’s Grandscape Development to the award winning, Three Bridges project on IH 30 to name a few. His ability to develop a vision and plan — and then work collaboratively with others to refine and execute it — has been an essential component of his leadership. In 2026, after decades of award-winning civil engineering at Graham Associates, Jeff shepherded the firm to merge with Parkhill, a large multidisciplinary architecture and engineering firm, where he now serves as the Chief Strategy Officer. The opportunities to create unity and build community has grown tremendously.

As Mayor of Arlington, he successfully led his city’s bid to win the nationwide competition to bring the National Medal of Honor Museum to Arlington. Jeff also led in securing buy-in from multi-billion-dollar businesses and top-level executives to develop the Texas Live! Entertainment complex and building the largest e-sports arena in the nation, while keeping the 2023 Major League Baseball World Series Champions, the Texas Rangers, in their hometown.

Arlington is now considered “the sports capital of the nation.” The city has also become one of the premier tourist destinations in the country, while also earning its place as a top contender among innovative and tech-forward U.S. cities.

Jeff also guided Arlington through some of the most challenging moments in modern history, including easing racial tensions, and helping the community to become the first major U.S. city to emerge from the depths of the pandemic. He was also called upon to help cities nationwide when he was appointed Co-Chair of the National Covid Relief Task Force by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which brought major resources to our nation’s cities to combat Covid and recover economically from the pandemic. The key again was bringing people together to achieve transformative results.

Jeff has proven that lasting success is not achieved through individual brilliance, but through aligning diverse people around shared vision and values to work together in unity. Now, in his first book, The Unity Blueprint, Jeff shares real world stories and actionable strategies that prove unity is not just an ideal, it is a valuable leadership tool. Whether you are leading in business, government or a community organization, Jeff’s message is clear: unity is always worth the investment. And when done right, it can transform not only outcomes, but people. Jeff is committed to building bridges and breaking down walls and offers a proven framework for bringing people together to accomplish remarkable goals.

Gary Rabine is a results-driven entrepreneur with 44 start-ups in 45 years. Most of Gary’s experience has been building regional and national facilities services and infrastructure businesses. Outside of for-profit businesses, Gary has been on the ground floor of start-ups in nonprofits such as The Rabine Foundation, Job Creators Network, and Charlie Kirk’s TPUSA, among others. The moonshot of Gary’s start-ups is always to build world-class businesses and nonprofits that make a positive impact in the world.

Mr. Rabine is the Founder and CEO of the Rabine Group, a nationwide family of specialized companies delivering paving, construction, and infrastructure services to commercial, industrial, and government clients across the United States. He started his first business in 1981 at age 18, paving and sealcoating driveways alongside, and soon partnering with, his father until 1993, when he purchased his father’s equity. Gary and his team started a few more companies by 2003, and The Rabine Group was born. In 2026, Rabine Paving businesses have been started in multiple regions of the country, and with the national brand Rabine Paving America, The Rabine Group’s paving businesses are recognized as one of the largest privately held commercial paving organizations in America.

Under his leadership, the Rabine Group has expanded its footprint into national snow and ice management, paving, roofing, mechanical, doors & docks, and now leads the world in facilities AI. A hallmark of Mr. Rabine’s approach has been pairing hands-on construction and engineering experience with emerging technology.

In 2017, he co-founded SITE Technologies alongside his son, Austin Rabine, incubating the company within the Rabine Group to help large facility leaders manage repair and maintenance costs better and faster. Leveraging AI and machine learning, SITE has grown to solve previously unmet challenges for some of the largest retail and distribution building owners in the world, replacing traditional boots-on-the-ground inspections of buildings, parking lots, and roofs with faster, data-driven assessments. SITE now helps partners assess and manage more than 25 billion square feet of facilities globally, delivering safety, environmental, and cost benefits at scale – a clear example of Mr. Rabine’s belief that even the most traditional “dirty industries” can be transformed through innovation and technology.

Beyond the boardroom, Mr. Rabine has taken his commitment to American competitiveness into the public arena, running for statewide office in Illinois in the governor’s primary on a platform of economic growth, lower taxes, and support for small business and manufacturing. For fun, he hosts the podcast Ditch Digger CEO, chronicling the journeys of entrepreneurs who built major enterprises (top 1% in their industry) from nothing, and speaks of protecting the American Dream and the importance of skilled trades and domestic industry to U.S. economic security.

Mr. Rabine is now two years into building Rabine Global, where he is taking the Rabine Group’s greatest innovations and competing in the Balkans on large infrastructure projects. When Rabine Global is successful, they will be beating the CCP and pushing back the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, a mission advised initially by Charlie Kirk and, over the past year, by Gen. Mike Flynn. Gary has been blessed by God in so many ways, but the greatest blessings are his family. His 4 adult kids became 7 after marrying Julie in 2025, and his 7 grandkids make his life amazing!!

James Dumoulin is the Co-Founder and face of The School of Hard Knocks, the #1 most-viewed business media channel. Founded in 2021, the channel is built on a simple premise: everyone has a financial lesson they learned the hard way. By interviewing business owners, millionaires, and 60+ billionaires to share those lessons, James has turned raw, real-world money advice into entertaining, accessible content that has grown to reach over 25 million followers across social media, with brand partnerships including Burger King, Microsoft Copilot, and CELSIUS. He’s since parlayed that platform into a portfolio of businesses spanning a media agency, coaching, and consulting, helping others turn attention into real income.