Born in New York, René Silvin, MBA grew up in Swiss boarding schools. After earning his bachelor's degree from Georgetown University in 1970 and two master's degrees in business from Cornell University in 1972, he spent 25 years in the investor-owned hospital industry. Since retiring, Silvin has published five books, including a memoir about his friendship with the late Duchess of Windsor, as well as a history of Palm Beach, Florida seen through the eyes of the famous society architect, Addison Mizner, and a coffee table book titled “Normandie: The Tragic Story of the Most Majestic Ocean Liner," which is a historical novel that brings to life the magnificent flagship of the French line, Normandie, which met its tragic end during WWII. He continues to add lecture topics, through offering well-researched, glamorous stories with historical significance, infused with personal experiences, including a history of transatlantic ocean liner travel, the history of Mar-a-Lago, and a series of presentations about the pitfalls of being too rich. Silvin serves as the chairman on the Palm Beach Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Marlene Solender is former executive in microbiology and laboratory science and chief project executive for the development of major health care information systems. As an adjunct professor in information systems she developed exceptional public speaking skills with a knack for unique presentations. In her "retirement" Solender is a music historian who shares her love of musical theater, the movies and the American Songbook with audiences on land and to cruise ship audiences around the globe. Using her unique entertainment skills, the life stories of composers, lyricists and other famous personalities are punctuated by the music of the time. She fills the room with story and song and the audience leaves the theater humming and singing!

Matt Stabile is a writer, director, actor and educator who found his home in the Theatre at an early age. He proudly serves as the Producing Artistic Director of Theatre Lab, the professional resident company of Florida Atlantic University, where he has directed multiple World, US, and Regional Premiere productions and more than 100 readings of new plays hosted by The Lab. A proud member of AEA, Matt has performed on stages across South Florida, written and produced material for the stage and screen, and is a passionate advocate for arts and education.

Cyndi Stein-Rubin is an award-winning tenured professor at Brooklyn College, certified speech/language pathologist, author of two graduate-level textbooks, one personal development book, professional life coach, speech coach, public and keynote speaker. She also has been leading a successful book club at the Boca Raton Resort, for the past five years, and at various organizations in south Florida. Given her rich professional backdrop, which also includes a theater background, her lectures are dynamic and alive with ingenuity and sparkle.

Jeffrey Steinberg, M.A. is an Adjunct Professor at Frederick College (Frederick, MD) in Institute for Learning in Retirement. Professor at Florida Gulf Coast University Academy. I have been teaching for the past seven years in lifetime learning programs. I have taught full semester course and single lectures. BA Rutgers University in Political Science, MA Montclair State University in Social Science Research. Executive VP PTB Global Advisors (currently) a small business consulting firm with Japanese clients.

Edward S. Steinfeld, Ph.D. is Professor of Political Science and the Dean's Chair in China Studies at Brown University. Since 2016, he has been serving as Director of the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University's primary center for the study of public policy in a global context. Steinfeld's research focuses on understanding China's contemporary industrial transformation and its implications for national power and technological competitiveness. Through deep and long-term interactions with Chinese and global companies, Steinfeld examines the relationship between governmental industrial policy and enterprise-level technological capabilities, as well as efforts at knowledge generation by Chinese firms operating in worldwide production and R&D networks. His work documents the flow of technical knowledge and know-how both into China and out of China and examines the political, social, and geopolitical ramifications of these interactions. Steinfeld speaks and reads Mandarin fluently, having first lived in China in 1989 and then subsequently for multiple year-long stays through to the present. Steinfeld has served as a visiting faculty member at several leading Chinese universities, including Tsinghua University (2012-2013) and Beijing University (1999 and 200). Steinfeld was also a visiting scholar at the Institute for Industrial Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (1994). Steinfeld has served as a consultant to the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, U.S. governmental agencies, and a number of Chinese and multinational enterprises. Steinfeld is the author of the books Playing Our Game: Why China's Rise Doesn't Threaten the West (Oxford, 2010) and Forging Reform in China: The Fate of State-Owned Industry (Cambridge, 1998). He is also the author of numerous articles in both academic and non-academic journals, including Comparative Politics, Political Studies, World Development, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the South China Morning Post. Steinfeld received his B.A., MA, and Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University, where he was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Prior to his arrival at Brown, Steinfeld, from 1996 through 2013, served on the faculty of the Sloan School of Management and Department of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "