Speakers Bureau

Inspire, Challenge, Motivate

National Geographic Speakers Bureau represents the world’s boldest Explorers, scientists, photographers and storytellers. These tailor-made experiences inspire, challenge and motivate audiences — from dynamic corporate keynotes to unforgettable gala evenings. Contact us today to bring the world to your private event.

Available Speakers

Showing 9 of 10 results

Alex R. Hearn

Wildlife, Science

Alex Hearn is a marine ecologist who is researching whale shark migrations around the Galapagos Islands. He is a professor at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) and the Galapagos Science Center. He is also a founding member and Board President of the regional research network, MigraMar, and in 2020 was named co-champion of the Mission Blue Galapagos Hope Spot. Alex's projects use acoustic and satellite telemetry to establish the migratory pathways of sharks at different times of the year in the southern Galapagos and coastal mainland Ecuador. He led a multi-institutional team of biologists to develop a blueprint for improved conservation outside the Galapagos Marine Reserve, which resulted in the creation of the new Hermandad Reserve in 2022. Alex's work has been featured in stand-alone documentaries and in the iconic Blue Planet II and Galapagos documentary series.

Diana Magaloni

Culture, Science, Leadership, Storytelling

Dr. Diana Magaloni has led a versatile career as museum leader, art historian, author, curator, and conservator. As Deputy Director at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art , she leads an innovative mentoring and curatorial program as the Head Curator of the Department of Art of the Ancient Americas and serves as Director of the museum’s Conservation Center. The work that she and her team do with indigenous communities, artists and countries of origin have served to implement museum's best practices and involvement with the public, and has been documented in film. Her books and exhibitions have won awards for excellence. Before moving to Los Angeles, she was Director of the National Museum of Anthropology—Mexico’s internationally well-respected national museum. Due to her vision and abilities as public speaker she was a successful fundraiser. She worked as a researcher and professor at the National University of Mexico. Her research has been characterized by innovation, collaborating with artists, scholars and scientists in Europe, the United States, and Latin America. Her unique approach combines art history with scientific analysis of works of art, a method that has influenced many in the field. She inspires audiences with her storytelling bridging the gap between academia and the general public; she was a speaker in National Geographic Live with sold out performances across the US. She has published extensively, including the books Colors of the New World: Materials, Artists, and the Creation of the Florentine Codex (2014) At LACMA, she has curated numerous exhibitions, including Picasso and Rivera: Conversations Across Time (2017), which received the 2018 Award for Excellence from the Association of Art Museum Curators; The Portable Universe, Thought and Splendor of Indigenous Colombia (2022), the catalogue for which was awarded the Alfred H. Barr Award by the College Art Association; and We Live in Painting: The Nature of Color in Mesoamerican Art (2024).

Eduardo Sampaio

Science, Wildlife, Technology

Eduardo Sampaio is a field biologist, ethologist, and National Geographic Explorer that investigates how animals think, adapt and interact in a dynamic world. His research spans behavior, ecology, cognition, and evolution, with a special fascination for cephalopods: octopus, squid, and cuttlefish. Across his career, Sampaio has studied a wide range of questions, from social learning in cuttlefish to cooperative hunting partnerships between octopus and fish, offering rare insight into the roots of cooperation and social intelligence beyond the familiar world of mammals and birds. Sampaio’s work aims to reveal how these mysterious animals perceive and respond to the world around them, helping to illuminate bigger biological questions about convergent evolution and the emergence of intelligence across the tree of life. His research has been featured internationally, including by The New York Times, BBC, and Euronews, bringing the hidden lives of marine animals to audiences around the world.

Jaime Rojo

Wildlife, Photography, Conservationism, Storytelling

Jaime Rojo is a photographer and National Geographic Explorer who combines his passion for wild nature, conservation and storytelling to create visual communication campaigns that engage the general public on environmental issues. A strong advocate of wilderness conservation and large-landscape connectivity, he hopes his images can ultimately become a tool for the creation of new protected areas. He frequently collaborates as a photographer, filmmaker, and communications advisor with environmental organizations, corporate clients, educational institutions, and government agencies all over the world. His most recent projects include “Andorra al natural,” a collaboration with National Geographic and the Government of Andorra to show the wild nature of the small country in the Pyrenees, and “Monarchs on the brink,” a visual exploration of monarch butterflies, from the natural history to the threats they face and the people working to protect them as they migrate between Canada, United States and Mexico. Rojo is an International League of Conservation Photographers Senior Fellow, a trustee of the WILD Foundation, and the recipient of honors in competitions such as the World Press Photo and Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

Katie Claire Orlinsky

Storytelling, Wildlife, Photography, Culture

Photographer Katie Orlinsky has spent over a decade covering news stories and feature assignments around the world. Her work explores a variety of subjects from conflict and social issues to unique subcultures, wildlife, and sports, and has been featured in National Geographic magazine, the New York Times, the New Yorker, and Smithsonian. Orlinsky has won numerous awards over the course of her career from institutions such as the Art Director’s Club, PDN30, Visa Pour L’image, and Pictures of the Year International, and was named the 2016 Paris Match Female Photojournalist of the Year. Since 2014, she has been working on a long-term photographic project exploring how climate change is challenging communities across Alaska, and transforming the relationship between people, animals, and the land. Based in Alaska for part of the year, Orlinsky continues to work in the region and is teaching photojournalism at University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2018. She has received grants from The National Geographic Society, The Magnum Foundation, Getty Images, The International Women’s Media Foundation, and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Kenneth Broad

Adventure, Climate Change, Culture, Leadership, Resilience, Sustainability, Teamwork, Technology, Wildlife, Conservationism

Kenny Broad is an environmental anthropologist who studies the relationship between humans and their environment. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University in 1999 and in 2011 he was chosen as the Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year, with the late Wes Skiles. Broad was selected as a National Geographic 2006 Emerging Explorer and was elected a Fellow National of the Explorers Club in 2009. He is a licensed U.S. Coast Guard captain and commercial helicopter pilot. Since 1992, he has participated in over 20 National Geographic expeditions, including extreme scientific and filmmaking projects on every continent - from studying cocaine distribution patterns to tracking venomous snakes to exploring the deepest caves on the planet - to gather information that sheds light on little known environmental and cultural subjects. He has published dozens of interdisciplinary papers on social and natural science topics, and he regularly collaborates with ecologists, climatologists, hydrologists, psychologists, and a host of other scientists across unique disciplines. He served on the National Geographic Society Expeditions Council, is on the Nat Geo Live Speakers Bureau, and has traveled as an expert on many Nat Geo Expeditions travel excursions. Broad served as co-director of Columbia University Center for Research on Environmental Decisions for over 15 years. He is currently a professor of environmental science and policy and director of the Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy at the University of Miami.

Maria Grace Fadiman

Adventure, Conservationism, Culture, Resilience, Science, Sustainability, Teamwork

Maria Fadiman researches the human/environmental aspect of conservation, focusing on ethnobotany, the study of the relationship between people and plants. She works primarily in rural areas with the majority of her research addressing the rainforests of Latin America. Some projects include investigating oil exploration in the Amazon and organic coffee production in the Galápagos. She has also examined alternative livelihoods through sustainable wood carving in Zimbabwe, house construction from natural materials in the Philippines, Maori utilization of the Kauri tree in New Zealand, working with Losang Rabgey on Tibetan children recording of their own ethnobotanical knowledge on the plateau, and doing ethnobotanical outreach with local schools as part of Kenny Broad’s expedition in the Blue Holes National Park. Current projects include collaborating with Emerging Explorer Grace Gobbo to facilitate the retention of traditional language, culture and ecological knowledge with the Ha in Tanzania through making booklets with the villagers and working towards a community run ethnobotanical trail and garden.

Nalini M. Nadkarni

Science, Adventure

National Geographic Explorer at Large Nalini Nadkarni interweaves her research on rainforest canopy biota with innovative public engagement. Currently a biology professor at the University of Utah, she has written 150 scientific papers and books, and has cast new insights on the importance of canopy plants in ecosystem processes—and the effects of human activities on forest diversity and function. Nadkarni has innovated engagement with non-traditional groups, including faith-based groups, corporations, and people who are incarcerated. Her programs guide people in carceral institutions to rear endangered species for ecological restoration projects, providing them with direct ways to contribute to preserving Earth’s biodiversity even while incarcerated. As a National Geographic Explorer, she has convened artists, slam poets, and modern dancers to disseminate their own perceptions of forest canopies to arts audiences. She has integrated her approach into what she terms ‘tapestry thinking,’ bringing together seemingly disconnected ways of knowing, and tailoring the qualities of nature through the values of others to amplify the power of nature and the need to protect it. Her work is featured in academic journals and public media such as Science Friday, Playboy, TIME, Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, and RadioLab. Her awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the AAAS Award for Public Engagement, the National Science Foundation Award for Public Service, the Wilson Award for the Advancement of Social Justice, the Archie Carr Medal for Conservation, and the Rachel Carson Award for Conservation.

Peter M. McBride

Conservationism, Climate Change, Adventure, Photography, Science, Storytelling, Wildlife, Sustainability, Teamwork, Resilience, Culture, Leadership

Pete McBride is an award-winning photographer, filmmaker, writer, and speaker known for his powerful storytelling at the intersection of adventure and environmental conservation. Born and raised in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Pete has spent over 20 years capturing the planet’s most awe-inspiring landscapes and natural wonders from Everest and Antarctica to relocating African elephants and swimming with orca in the Arctic. A National Geographic Explorer, Adventurer of the Year and Sony Artisan of Imagery, McBride has worked in more than 75 countries, combining his skills in photojournalism and filmmaking to spotlight pressing environmental issues, particularly those involving water scarcity, public land protection, and climate change. His 750-mile trek through the length of the Grand Canyon became the basis for the Emmy-nominated documentary Into the Canyon and his celebrated book The Grand Canyon: Between River and Rim, which won a national outdoor book award. His more recent books, Seeing Silence, and Chasing Water, also won national book awards and in 2025 he was given The Ansel Adams Award for a lifetime achievement in conservation photography. His latest book, Witness to Water, is a two-decade-long, personal narrative of the Colorado River. It released in the spring of 2026. His photography and writing have appeared in National Geographic, Outside, Smithsonian, and The New York Times, among others. He is a frequent speaker at corporate conferences, universities, performing art centers and more. To learn more, visit petemcbride.com.

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