8 Top Keynote Speakers Based in Greater New York for 2027 Events
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Swan Sit knows what it takes to move a global brand forward. Daymond John knows what it takes to build one from the ground up. Barbara Butcher has spent a career making decisions in circumstances few business leaders will ever encounter. Greater New York is home to keynote speakers whose experience gives a 2027 event something substantial to build around.
Our picks bring that experience to audiences today, with appearances across business conferences, industry meetings and live storytelling programs in 2026 and announced sessions for 2027. These eight speakers are based in the Greater New York area, including New York City and Montclair, New Jersey. The selections are grouped by expertise, so you can match the speaker to your 2027 audience.
Swan Sit: Connecting Innovation to the Customer
New technology gets attention. Making it matter to a customer takes a different kind of thinking. Swan Sit brings that perspective from leading digital work at Nike, Revlon and Estée Lauder, where brand storytelling and business decisions have to work together.
Her Dreamforce 2026 speaking engagement brings that experience into a conference built around business and technology. At a marketing meeting or leadership conference, Swan connects the conversation about digital transformation to the people a business is trying to reach. She gives teams a reason to look beyond the next tool and think about how they earn attention, build community and strengthen customer relationships.
Ryan Serhant: Turning Visibility Into Sales
Ryan Serhant knows how to turn attention into a business opportunity. The Brooklyn-based founder of SERHANT. has built his career across real estate, sales education and media, including Netflix’s Owning Manhattan. His experience puts personal branding in the context of what a salesperson actually needs to accomplish: earn trust, create opportunities and close the deal.
His appearance at Inman Connect New York 2026 brought that perspective to an industry navigating technology and changing customer expectations. For a 2027 sales kickoff or entrepreneurship conference, Ryan connects the energy of a recognizable personality to the work of growing a business. His message reaches beyond real estate to teams whose success depends on being visible, building relationships and following through.
Visit Ryan Serhant’s speaking website
Amy Webb: Planning for the Technology That Changes Your Business
Amy Webb helps leaders see how emerging technologies could reshape the decisions they are making today. The New York based founder and CEO of Future Today Strategy Group brings strategic foresight to questions about AI, growth and disruption. Her work gives executives a way to examine several possible futures before committing their organization to one direction.
Her announced SXSW 2027 featured session will explore technology convergences and their implications for business and society. For a 2027 executive summit or innovation conference, Amy connects a forward-looking program to choices about investment, capabilities and competitive advantage. She gives an audience a reason to think beyond the next product announcement and consider what its organization needs to prepare for.
Visit Amy Webb’s official biography and speaking information
Nick Sonnenberg: Giving Teams Room to Do Their Best Work
A team can be busy all day and still struggle to move the work forward. Nick Sonnenberg gets into the reasons: scattered information, unclear handoffs and systems that make people work harder than they need to. The founder of Leverage and author of Come Up for Air organizes his approach around communication, planning and resources through his CPR framework.
Nick is listed in the lineup for the October 22–23, 2026 Wealth Mastery event in Las Vegas, bringing operational expertise to a business audience. That expertise gives a 2027 productivity or AI session a practical starting point. Before a team adds another tool, it needs to understand the work that tool is supposed to improve. Nick helps connect the possibilities of automation to the workflows, decisions and habits that determine whether people actually get their time back.
Chris Bashinelli: Building Trust Across Differences
Chris Bashinelli puts human connection at the center of performance. The New York based National Geographic Explorer and television host draws on encounters with people across cultures to show how curiosity changes a conversation. His stories make trust and empathy tangible for teams that need to work together across roles, backgrounds and competing priorities.
His keynote at the 2026 ICCFA Experience brought that message to professionals whose work depends on caring for people at difficult moments. For a 2027 customer service conference or company meeting, Chris connects the energy of an adventurous storyteller to a practical responsibility: listening closely enough to understand the person in front of you. That gives his keynote a clear place in a program about relationships, culture and service.
Visit Chris Bashinelli’s official speaking website
Barbara Butcher: Extraordinary Stories With a Human Center
Barbara Butcher takes an audience into a world most people know only through television. Her 23 years in forensic investigation, including work at New York City’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner, required close observation, compassion and judgment in profoundly difficult circumstances. The author of What the Dead Know has stories that hold attention because the people and consequences behind them are real.
As a featured speaker at CrimeCruise 2026, November 18–22, Barbara brings that experience to an audience drawn to her work and storytelling. For healthcare, public service and leadership audiences, the deeper connection is how people face difficult work without losing their humanity. Her subject matter deserves a thoughtful conversation about your audience, but her perspective gives resilience and judgment under pressure a depth that goes well beyond familiar motivational advice.
Daymond John: The Founder Behind the Familiar Face
Audiences recognize Daymond John from Shark Tank. Behind that recognition is the experience of building FUBU and making the decisions that turn an idea into a business. He brings growth, branding and resourcefulness into the same conversation, with a founder’s understanding of how closely those subjects are connected.
His GlassBuild America 2026 keynote engagement brings entrepreneurial thinking to an established industry. That makes sense: companies at every stage need to understand their customers and find their next opportunity. A 2027 sales kickoff, franchise meeting or business conference gains a recognizable name with a substantive story behind it. His experience sets up a conversation about what your audience can build and how it can make better use of the resources already within reach.
Bobbi Brown: Building a Brand, Then Building Again
Bobbi Brown’s story has more than one beginning. After building Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, she launched Jones Road, bringing years of experience into a new business with its own point of view. For founders and marketers, that second chapter opens up a compelling question: what do you carry forward when you start again?
Cvent brought her perspective to event professionals, marketers and hospitality leaders by selecting her for the Cvent CONNECT 2026 main stage. Her experience speaks to anyone responsible for creating something customers recognize and trust. Based in Montclair, Bobbi brings a Greater New York connection to a 2027 program about brand building, creative leadership or reinvention. She gives those themes a personal story of experience becoming the foundation for something new.
Ask the Mollie Plotkin Group to check availability for your Greater New York speaker shortlist and help you choose the right speaker for your 2027 audience.
