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 24 results

Alizé A. Carrère

Wildlife, Climate Change, Science

Alizé Carrère is a scientist and filmmaker researching and documenting human adaptations to climate change. She completed her Ph.D. in ecosystem science and policy at the University of Miami, where she examined the rise of “climatopias,” aspirational architecture and urban planning proposals for climate change. Prior to that, Carrère completed a Bachelor of Arts in environmental science and Master of Science in bioresource engineering at McGill University. During this time, she lived in Panama, Peru, France, and the Middle East, doing fieldwork on a range of human-environment interactions. After receiving a grant from National Geographic Society in 2013 to examine how farmers were unexpectedly adapting to severe deforestation in Madagascar, her work evolved into a broader film project on human resilience in the face of profound environmental change. Supported by additional grants from the National Geographic Society, The Redford Center and PBS, this culminated in a docuseries produced and hosted by Carrère for PBS Digital called ADAPTATION, covering adaptation stories in places such as Bangladesh, Ladakh, Vanuatu, and the United States. Her experiences have afforded her unique insights on the role of collaborative storytelling and the human dimensions of climate change.

Andrés Alfonso Ruzo

Science, Conservationism, Climate Change

Andrés Ruzo is a geothermal scientist, conservationist, educator, host, author and science communicator best known for his work at the Boiling River of the Amazon. He holds degrees in geology and finance, and will soon finish his Ph.D. in Earth sciences focusing on geothermal studies. Ruzo is a National Geographic Explorer and has been on multiple Society-funded grants. He is the host of an award-winning NatGeo Latin America television show, "Misterios del Inframundo" (Mysteries of the Underworld). His work has been featured on various National Geographic media outlets including the magazine, television channels, website and social media, as well as branded partnerships with BMW, LEGO, and Coors Light. Ruzo grew up between Peru, Nicaragua and the United States, and is currently based between Miami, U.S. and Lima, Peru. While doing research for a National Geographic Society-funded project, Ruzo investigated a detail in a childhood legend he heard as a boy in Lima about a mysterious "river that boiled" in the heart of the jungle. This legendary river proved to be real and in 2011, Ruzo became the first geoscientist granted the shamanic blessing to study it. Flowing hot for nearly four miles (over six kilometers), nearly 15 feet deep (about 4.5 meters) at its deepest point, and almost 100 feet wide (about 30 meters) at its widest point-- the Boiling River is currently the world's largest documented thermal river, even though it is over 430 miles (over 700 miles) away from the nearest active volcanic center. Ruzo is the founder and director of the Boiling River Project, a nonprofit aimed at understanding, protecting and bringing value to the Boiling River, the Amazon and unique geothermal systems across the globe. Through the Boiling River Project, he works to turn the Boiling River area into a mecca of scientific investigation and has played active roles in research from various fields of geoscience, botany, biology, microbiology, anthropology, linguistics, ethno-history, shamanism, conservation economics, wildlife trafficking and sustainable tourism. He engages in Indigenous and local empowerment work in the Central Peruvian Amazon through educational and sustainable economic initiatives. Beyond his Amazonian work, Ruzo is also heavily involved in K-12 and university level education.

Andy Mann

Storytelling, Photography, Wildlife, Climate Change, Adventure

Andy Mann is an experienced climber, diver, and filmmaker whose imagery helps tell the story of our rapidly changing planet, documenting scientific expeditions on all seven continents. He is the co-founder and director at 3 Strings Productions and is a founding member of the Sea Legacy Collective with Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier. He now spends more than 100 days each year at sea documenting cutting-edge marine science.

Ariel Waldman

Adventure, Climate Change, Leadership, Science, Space, Storytelling

Ariel Waldman is a National Geographic Explorer and filmmaker. Her expeditions take her from tallgrass prairies and deep-sea canyons to the icy realms of Antarctica. In these remarkable places, she films otherworldly life beneath the surface, including the extraordinary lives of microscopic animals. Waldman is the creator and host of "UNEARTHED," an ongoing series on PBS that breaks open the boundaries of nature documentaries, exploring everything from microscopic creatures to the planet's most iconic animals—and even the possibilities of life beyond Earth. Waldman is also a TED speaker and author. For over a decade, she has served as an advisor to NASA on astrobiology, human spaceflight and advanced technologies. In 2013, she was honored by the Obama White House as a "Champion of Change" for her work in citizen science. She lives in San Francisco, California, and enjoys collaborating with researchers to illuminate the unseen corners of our world.

Barton Seaver

Adventure, Climate Change, Culture, Health, Resilience, Storytelling, Sustainability

Barton Seaver is a chef who has dedicated his career to restoring the relationship we have with our ocean. It is his belief that the choices we are making for dinner are directly impacting the ocean and its fragile ecosystems. Seaver has manned the helm of some of Washington, D.C.’s most acclaimed restaurants. In doing so, he brought the idea of sustainable seafood to the nation’s capitol while earning Esquire magazine’s 2009 “Chef of the Year” status from acclaimed food writer John Mariani. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Seaver has cooked in cities all over America and the world. Having been bitten by the travel bug, Seaver found work in southern Spain at a small family restaurant. Their casual, ingredient-based cooking style would prove to be an important influence in his perception of food as an essential part of community. When the off-season arrived, Seaver hopped on a boat to Morocco and landed in the small seaside village of Essaouira. There, he took part in generations-old fishing methods, becoming a part of a community whose survival was directly linked to the oceans. This had a huge impact on his belief that sustainability is, at its root, not only an ecological matter, but also a humanitarian one. While sustainability has largely been assigned to seafood and agriculture, Barton’s work expands far beyond the dining table to encompass socio-economic and cultural issues. Locally, he pursues solutions to these problems through D.C. Central Kitchen, an organization fighting hunger not with food, but with personal empowerment, job training, and life skills. Barton has been lauded as a leader in sustainability by the Seafood Choices Alliance and was named a fellow with the Blue Ocean Institute. Barton has joined the board of Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment. Together with National Geographic, the Center is partnering with hospitals and health care providers in the Greater Boston area to educate them about healthier and more sustainable food service opportunities. He is the author of For Cod And Country (Sterling, Spring 2011), a book of recipes that inspires ocean conservation through the experience that we all share—dinner. In addition, Barton is working on television and online shows that will engage consumers by telling stories everyone can relate to, whether they are preparing a meal or preparing to eat it.

Benjamin R. Edwards

Adventure, Climate Change, Science, Sustainability

Ben Edwards is a professor of earth sciences and the Walter E. Beach Chair in Sustainability at Dickinson College, in Carlisle PA. His research interests are focused on fire and ice, literally exploring ice covered volcanoes while they are erupting. The majority of his work tries to use volcanic deposits formed from glaciovolcanism to reconstruct Earth’s past climate history, although he has recently begun taking students into the Arctic to show them how to measure the impact of climate change on glaciers, too. He has a B.A. in Geology from Carleton College, a M.S. in Geology from the University of Wyoming, and a Ph.D. in physical and chemical volcanology from the University of British Columbia. Edwards has helped to write more than 50 scientific papers and co-wrote the first book on volcano-ice interactions, Glaciovolcanism on Earth and Mars. Most of these papers examine the structures and histories of specific volcanoes in British Columbia, Canada, in Peru, and in Iceland, as well as erupting volcanoes in Kamchatka, Russia, in Chile, and in Iceland. He has also co-authored papers on glaciers response to climate change, including a chapter in the 2014 Global Land Ice Measurements from Space volume. His work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Michigan NASA Space Grant Consortium, Dickinson College, and National Geographic. His most recent NatGeo research on the 2015 eruption of Villarrica volcano is currently being completed with collaborators in Chile.

Brian J. Buma

Adventure, Climate Change, Conservationism, Science, Technology

Brian Buma is a climate scientist and published author. His work focuses on dynamic change in ecosystems—from wildfires to landslides to the ordinary migration of species in response to changing climates. He utilizes a range of methods, from field expeditions to satellite imagery, to gain a unique perspective on regional and global questions. Buma led an expedition to the back of Glacier Bay, Alaska, to rediscover the oldest running permanent plot network in the world. These sites, monitored consistently since 1916, were lost in the late 1980s. He is also leading the field documenting the effects of snow loss on forests around the world, running studies in the boreal of Alaska and high country of Colorado and chairing international sessions on the topic. In 2019, Buma led an expedition to southern Chile to document the furthest-south trees in the world, found in the wild ocean islands of Cape Horn. His latest work explored the northernmost land on the planet, off the north coast of Greenland. A senior climate scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund and associated research professor at the University of Colorado Denver (and affiliate professor at the University of Alaska), Buma’s findings have been featured in National Geographic, the New York Times, Northwest Native News, High Country News, and international peer-reviewed journals.

Brian J. Skerry

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

Brian Skerry is a film producer/director and veteran photojournalist specializing in marine wildlife and underwater realms. His recent documentary film credits include "Secrets of the Whales" and "Return of the White Shark," both currently streaming on Disney+. In 2021, Skerry received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary as a producer of "Secrets of the Whales." Since 1998, Skerry has been a contributing photographer for National Geographic magazine, where he has created and photographed more than 30 feature stories, including seven cover stories. His work has also been featured in publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Paris Match, Esquire, and Audubon. In 2014 he was named as a National Geographic Society Photography Fellow and then named a National Geographic Society Storytelling Fellow in 2017 - the same year he was awarded the title of Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year. In 2016, he received the National Geographic magazine's Photographer’s Photographer Award, a recognition bestowed by his colleagues, other National Geographic magazine photographers. Skerry was named the 2025 Nature Photographer of the Year by the North American Nature Photographers Association. Skerry is the author of 12 books including the acclaimed monographs "Ocean Soul," "SHARK" and "Secrets of the Whales."

Cole Sartore

Conservationism, Photography, Resilience, Storytelling, Wildlife, Climate Change

National Geographic Photo Ark curator, field producer, and photo editor Cole Sartore is a photographer, speaker, author, curator, and conservationist. Started by his father, Joel, the Photo Ark has become the world’s largest collection of species portraiture. Since it’s inception in 2006, the Photo Ark has documented over 16,000 species in more than 70 countries worldwide. The goal is to create a visual archive of global biodiversity, and move the public to care about extinction. The Photo Ark shares imagery of the most vulnerable animals on this planet through numerous magazine publications, books, television, public projections, and two new National Geographic books: The Photo Ark and Photo Ark Wonders. Images from the collection also were shown on 10 different covers of National Geographic Magazine in April of 2016. Sartore has served as co-editor of National Geographic YourShot, videographer, producer, and Photo Ark editor, guest curator of the Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art, and principal of the Nebraska based fine art gallery, the Lincoln Art Company. Through the work of Joel, Cole, and many others, Photo Ark images and video continue to inspire and awe viewers through incredibly intricate, elegantly composed portraits of animals throughout the world. The Photo Ark has been the subject of several national broadcasts, including 60 Minutes, National Geographic Explorer, NBC Nightly News, NPR’s Weekend Edition, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, CBS Sunday Morning, and the PBS documentary series, Rare: Portraits of the Photo Ark. Sartore graduated from the University of Nebraska with a degree in anthropology. He currently lives in Lincoln, Nebraska.

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