Preparing Today’s Leaders to be Future-Ready, T.D. Jakes’ International Leadership Summit to Feature

Never before has it been so important for leaders to be future-ready: to anticipate and act on change before it happens and to pivot strategies to stay a step ahead. T.D. Jakes' annual International Leadership Summit, presented by Wells Fargo, will give leaders at the intersection of faith and business a leg up on navigating a rapidly changing world as they learn from global leaders making an impact as innovators, entrepreneurs, and church and business leaders when the event returns to Orlando's Orange County Convention Center, April 10-12.

Mellody Hobson, co-CEO and president of Ariel Investments and chairman of the board of trustees for Ariel Investment Trust, will join T.D. Jakes on stage Friday, April 11. Named by Time Magazine as one of the most influential people in the world in 2015, Hobson served as Ariel Investments' president for nearly two decades prior to being named co-CEO. She is also the founder of Project Level®, a fund that seeks to change the game in women's sports. Hobson also co-founded Ariel Alternatives, LLC in 2021 and its inaugural private equity fund, Project Black® to create minority-owned businesses that can serve as suppliers-of-choice to Fortune 500 companies. Beyond Ariel, she serves as a director for JPMorgan Chase and is the former chairman of Starbucks Corporation. Hobson was a long-standing board member of the Estée Lauder Companies and chairman of the board of DreamWorks Animation until the company's sale in 2016.

Now in its final year, the International Leadership Summit, presented by Wells Fargo, will focus on the theme, "Changing of the Guard," concentrating on advancing a new generation of ministry and business leaders as they continue to glean wisdom from past generations. Although this is the final year for the International Leadership Summit, next year will usher in a revolutionary platform curating high-level summits and conversations designed to engage leaders in deeper, more impactful ways. More details are forthcoming.

Speakers at the 2025 International Leadership Summit embody a variety of skilled leaders, shaping the conversation about navigating challenging times, the importance of women in leadership, leadership and wealth generation, turning technology into a competitive edge, and the changing of the guard. Some of the other speakers include:

Dr. Myron Rolle, pediatric neurosurgery fellow at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, chairman and founder of the Caribbean Neurosurgery Foundation. A resident of Orlando, Rolle is a Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital trained neurosurgeon serving as the current pediatric neurosurgery fellow at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital. He is a Rhodes Scholar, best-selling author, former All-American Florida State University football player, and former National Football League player for the Tennessee Titans and Pittsburgh Steelers. He published the Rolle Scoring System – a public health rating scale used to determine a developing country's governance around helmet safety to prevent traumatic brain injury.

James Meeks, founding pastor of Salem Baptist Church of Chicago, CEO Hope Center Foundation. Meeks is the founding pastor of Salem Baptist Church of Chicago, which has been recognized as one of the fastest growing megachurches in the United States. Starting with 125 members in 1985, under Meeks' leadership, Salem has grown to a congregation of 9,000 members around the country. In 2005, he led Salem in the building of Hope House, a 10,000-seat community and worship center on the South Side of Chicago and, upon his retirement from pastoral ministry in 2023, became CEO of the Hope Center Foundation, a nonprofit that helps residents of the urban Chicago community successfully transition out of poverty to living wage and into generational wealth. Meeks has served as an Illinois State Senator and is the author of two books.

Launched in 2011, the International Leadership Summit remains a crucial gathering of business and spiritual leaders discussing the most pressing issues of today while working together to solve society's most complex problems. The summit is one of the most transformative leadership conferences as a standard-bearer for values-based business learning and professional development.

The International Leadership Summit will be the first of three conferences the T.D. Jakes Group will host in 2025. Presented by Wells Fargo, each of the three conferences aims to empower leaders and communities around the world. Following the International Leadership Summit, Good Soil will take place June 12-14, 2025, at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas to catalyze and support a broad range of business owners. Sarah Jakes Roberts' Woman Evolve is set to host its next conference at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, July 31-Aug. 2, 2025. Woman Evolve's mission is to equip women through spiritual and practical development with the tools necessary to evolve into the highest version of themselves. At all three of the T.D. Jakes Group conferences, women will be keynote speakers as the organization joins partner organizations as a part of the transformational agenda to prepare leaders.

The International Leadership Summit will welcome these key industry leaders.

WHO:

• T.D. Jakes, CEO of the T.D. Jakes Group
• Mellody Hobson, co-CEO and president, Ariel Investments and chairman of the board of trustees, Ariel Investment Trust
• Steven Furtick, faith leader and author
• Cindy Trimm, founder and CEO, Trimm Institute of Global Leadership + Trimm Global Charities
• Carla Harris, senior client advisor, Morgan Stanley
• Dr. Myron Rolle, pediatric neurosurgery fellow at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital
• Joel Tudman, senior pastor, The Faith Center
• James Meeks, CEO, Hope Center Foundation
• Lambert Gates, president, L.W. Gates Ministries
• John Hope Bryant, founder and CEO, Operation Hope
• Courtney McBath, Courtney McBath Leadership and president of Virginia Christian College
• … and more leaders of business and faith found on the website.

WHERE:
Orange County Convention Center
9800 International Dr.
Orlando, FL 32819

WHEN:
April 10-12, 2025

About the International Leadership Summit
Founded by T.D. Jakes – real estate mogul, New York Times best-selling author, pioneering CEO and entrepreneur, global humanitarian, devoted philanthropist, senior pastor of The Potter's House – the International Leadership Summit is an annual transformative conference. Since 2011, the conference has cultivated aspiring and tenured entrepreneurs and leaders with the tools to become successful in for-profit and not-for-profit industries.