Theme: It's Complicated

We live in an incredibly complex, interconnected world. Despite our best efforts to simplify, we constantly find ourselves faced with nuance and wandering into gray areas.

In other words, no matter what the topic ... it's complicated.

This year at TEDxAmoskeagMillyard, our speakers will share their stories and expertise, bringing insight to complicated challenges, and bringing ideas worth spreading to the stage of the gorgeous Stockbridge Theatre at Pinkerton Academy.

If you've been to one of our events in the past, you know this is a day you don't want to miss. And if you've long been a fan of TED talks online, but have never experienced them live, please join us for a day of conversation, connection, and ideas that you won't soon forget.

This ticket includes your registration as well as a light breakfast and a box lunch.

Stockbridge Theatre, Pinkerton Academy
5 Pinkerton St.
Derry, New Hampshire, 03038
United States

Bhagirath Khatiwada

Bhagirath Khatiwada describes himself as a voice for the voiceless. He has extensive experience in working with refugees and immigrants and is currently the linguistic and cultural competence coordinator for the NH Department of Education. Prior to that he was the Program Director at Building Community in New Hampshire, formerly known as Bhutanese Community of New Hampshire (BCNH) where helped refugees get jobs, sign up for healthcare, and learn English. He is a Riverbend Community Mental Health board member. Bhagirath has authored a series of sixth- and seventh-grade social studies text books. He is also a contributing editor to Bhutan News Service. He and his family came to the U.S. in 2008 and became citizens in 2015.

Edna Conway

Edna Conway is an innovative executive who forecasts the future of business and creates clear strategies to deliver new and secure operating models for a digital economy. Edna currently considers herself privileged to serve as Chief Security Officer at Cisco. She has built new organizations delivering cyber security, compliance, risk management, sustainability, and value chain transformation. She is recognized domestically (US Presidential Commissions) and globally (NATO) as the developer of architectures delivering value chain security, sustainability, and resiliency. Edna’s heart belongs to the Granite State. She said, “From my service as an Assistant Attorney General in the 1980s to current service as a member of the NH Coalition for Business and Education, my passion is to highlight the extraordinary talent and innovation that abounds in my beloved New Hampshire.”

Hany Farid

The co-founder and CTO of Fourandsix Technologies, an image authentication and forensics company, Hany Farid works to advance the field of digital forensics. Hany said, “For the past decade I have been working on technology and policy that will find a balance between an open and free Internet while reining in online abuses. With approximately a billion Facebook uploads per day and 400 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, this task is technically and logistically complicated but also, I believe, critical to the long-term health of our online communities.” Hany is the Albert Bradley 1915 Third Century Professor and Chair of Computer Science at Dartmouth. He is also a Senior Adviser to the Counter Extremism Project.

Ian Ethan Case

Boston-based acoustic double-neck guitarist and Candyrat recording artist Ian Ethan Case is quickly becoming recognized as “one of the most creative and engaging fingerstyle guitarists in the world” (International Center for Creativity.) After a decade of composing and performing around the country largely under the radar, in 2015 a viral facebook video of his song “Butter II” introduced his music to over 6 million listeners around the world in the course of a month. In addition to a record deal and endorsements with companies such as Ovation guitars and Boss pedals, 2016 and 2017 provided extensive touring opportunities throughout Europe and the United States, including two performances with a full symphony orchestra. Fingerstyle legend Don Ross invited Case to open for him in Ross’ then-hometown of Toronto, later describing his performance as “some of the most massively inventive musicianship I’ve ever heard/seen.” Other listeners have described his music as a cross between Michael Hedges and Pat Metheny. His newest album, Earth Suite, features a dozen musicians from all over the globe, including four-time Grammy-winning cellist Eugene Friesen and internationally acclaimed percussionist Jamey Haddad. While the studio album features a large group and dense orchestration, Case brings much of that expansive sound to his concert performances thanks to live looping and sound specialist Stephanie Case who records, layers, and manipulates Ian’s playing on the spot for a dynamic, truly symphonic effect that defies the typical “solo musician with a loop pedal” stereotype. As one first-time listener in California exclaimed, “Ian’s music is phenomenal - watching him play is not ‘listening to music’; it’s a full mind experience. Transporting.”

Jordan TW Trio

Putting a fresh spin on traditional Irish music, the Jordan TW Trio delivers and dynamic show full of foot-stompin' fiddle tunes and classic sing-alongs. Fiddler Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki is joined by fellow New Hampshire natives Matt Jensen on guitar and Chris Noyes on upright bass. Their shows blend traditional Celtic music with their own original material, drawing on multiple genres to produce a unique sound.

Joyce Maynard

Joyce Maynard first came to national attention with the publication of her 1972 New York Times cover story, “An Eighteen-Year-Old Looks Back on Life,” when she was a freshman at Yale. Since then, Joyce has been a reporter and columnist for The New York Times, a syndicated newspaper columnist, a regular contributor to NPR and national magazines and a longtime performer with The Moth. She is the author of seventeen books, including the novels To Die For and Labor Day, both adapted for film. She has a best-selling and controversial memoir, At Home in the World, and, more recently, The Best of Us, the story of meeting her husband when the two were in their late fifties, and losing him four years later to cancer. Joyce has been hosting workshops for aspiring writers of memoir for almost twenty years. She is currently working on her tenth novel and the screen adaptation of an earlier work. https://www.joycemaynard.com/

Kira Banks

Dr. Kira Hudson Banks studies how oppression affects us and how we can intervene. Her research examines the experience of discrimination – its impact on mental health and intergroup relations. She said, “As a psychologist, I know how dehumanization enables us to act in inhumane ways and how over-focusing on the individual blinds us to the system that sanctioned the behavior.” She has published in several American Psychological Association journals, and through popular media outlets such as Huffington Post and The Atlantic. As a consultant, Kira has worked with schools, communities, institutions of higher education, and corporations to improve diversity and inclusion efforts and engage people in productive dialogue and action. Her consulting firm, The Mouse and the Elephant, develops customized curriculum to meet companies’ long-term needs. www.kirabanks.com

Mary Guinan

Mary Guinan is a physician, scientist, and author who has a special interest in women’s health issues. She is a leader in the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA). Mary worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA as a medical epidemiologist (medical detective) and administrator. She served in the worldwide smallpox eradication program in India and was part of the CDC team that investigated the early AIDS epidemic. Her work in AIDS is documented in the book and movie And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts. As a women’s health advocate, she believes all women of reproductive age who do not want to get pregnant should have access to a LARC, a long-acting reversible contraceptive. Her first book, "Adventures of a Female Medical Detective," was published in 2016.

Randall Mikkelsen

When asked what he does, Randall Mikkelsen says, “I provide news for the good guys on Wall Street.” Randall is a managing editor at Thomson Reuters. He has three decades of journalism experience reporting, editing, and managing top economic and political stories. He has covered many of the major stories of the era, including the fall of the Soviet Union, the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, the war on terrorism, and the financial crisis. Recently, he has led a social media campaign for artistic freedom in the local public school. He is now speaking about “fake news” and media literacy at public libraries and other venues. He volunteers writing press releases for the Seacoast Repertory Theatre in Portsmouth, plays in the Timberlane Community Guitar Orchestra, has a black belt in To Shin Do, and loves photography.

Shanita Williams

At the core of all her work, Dr. Shanita Williams is most concerned about the human experience and how to help others live life without limits. Shanita has extensive experience and has been creating learning experiences that increase knowledge, change behavior, and drive employee growth and development at all organizational levels for over a decade. Knowing the daily challenges mothers face when trying to balance work, school, and family, Shanita conducted researched called, “She Made It,” where she explored the lived experiences of working mothers as students. The research revealed powerful stories of triumph and resilience, which became the inspiration to create a platform to explore these experiences more formally. In 2016, she became the CEO and Founder of Momploydent Inc., a non-profit organization committed to helping working mothers excel academically. www.momploydent.com

Stephanie Rutt

When asked what she does, Rev. Dr. Stephanie Rutt says, “I discern unity within diversity.” Stephanie is the Presiding Minister of the Tree of Life Interfaith Temple in Amherst, NH. She is also the director of the Tree of Life School for Sacred Living and the creator of the Tree of Life Interfaith Seminary, a two-year program focused on the integration of prayer, meditation, and spiritual practices from the world’s major faith traditions. Before ministry, Stephanie worked as a mental health counselor and taught in the behavioral sciences for many years, including eight years with the University of New Hampshire. She is the author of many spiritually-minded books, and shares her thoughts at Reverend Stephanie’s Blog. She is also the community organizer for the Interfaith Peach Walk for the NH Souhegan Valley Interfaith Council. www.stephanierutt.com