A select group of elite movers & shakers will gather at Allen & Co.’s Sun Valley Conference in Idaho next week. But this year’s conference is a departure from the usual white male lineup.
Insider has found that at least 30 of the 300 guests were high-flying females, according to a list of attendees.
Adena Friedman of Nasdaq, Mary Barra from General Motors, and Felicia Cucuru of Binti are among the CEOs on the list. Microsoft’s gaming director Sarah Bond is one of few women of color who will be attending. According to the company, Sarah Friar, chief of Nextdoor social media platform, will be there.
According to the company, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, and Marni Levine, its top ad boss, are among the women attending media and tech. Anne Wojcicki (23andMe CEO) is listed as well as Meg Whitman (ex-Ebay chief), Julia Hartz (Eventbrite chief) and Adriana Zisneros, chief at Grupo Cisneros.
Gayle King, Becky Quick, and Willow Bay are some women journalists who will attend or helm panels.
A massive change from years past, when only spouses were present. Stacey Bendet is the CEO of Alice & Olivia, a fashion brand. Creatively is an online freelancer platform. Bendet was a long-time female attendee. She stated that it was essential to recognize the efforts of companies to improve their image.
Bendet will attend with Eric Eisner, Bendet’s husband, and his father, Michael Eisner (ex-Disney CEO). Their children won’t be coming due to the new no-child policy, which one insider reported led some to cancel.
ViacomCBS chief Bob Bakish won’t be there, but Shari, the controlling shareholder of ViacomCBS, confirmed that Shari Redstone would. Charter Communications’ chief Tom Rutledge, however, is not attending the event. Jeff Bewkes is, however, who sold Time Warner Cable to AT&T.
Jeff Bezos is retiring as Amazon CEO. He will be there to introduce Andy Jassy, his successor. Amazon didn’t immediately respond. Apple’s Tim Cook will be attending, as well as Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook.
Some executives are giving up this year. John Malone (an 80-year old cable investor) is bowing out. Jonathan Nelson, Providence Equity executive chair, is also leaving. Rupert Murdoch and his sons James Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch were not included in the list, but Wendi Murdoch was. News Corp. didn’t immediately respond.
Sony, which also sends a large contingent of people from Tokyo and the US, has been removed from the list. According to the company, John Stankey (AT&T’s chief) won’t be attending this year’s conference.
ABC acquired ESPN through a conversation at Sun Valley. Now, guests speculate on the possible deals that might be made at the famous duck pond. High-fliers enjoy hot dogs and hamburgers as they prepare seismic acquisitions.
