2026 LIMRA Annual Conference - Digital

Eric Bradlow

Professor Eric T. Bradlow is the K.P. Chao Professor, Professor of Marketing, Statistics, Education and Economics, and Vice Dean of AI & Analytics at Wharton. An applied statistician, Professor Bradlow uses high-powered statistical models to solve problems on everything from Internet search engines to product assortment issues. Specifically, his research interests include Bayesian modeling, statistical computing, and developing new methodology for unique data structures with application to business problems.

Eric is a fellow of the INFORMS Society for Marketing Science, a fellow of the American Statistical Association, a fellow of the American Educational Research Association, is past chair of the American Statistical Association Section on Statistics in Marketing, past Editor-in-Chief of Marketing Science, is a past statistical fellow of Bell Labs, and worked at DuPont Corporation’s Corporate Marketing and Business Research Division and the Educational Testing Service.

A prolific scholar, Professor Bradlow’s research has been published in top-tier academic journals such as the Journal of the American Statistical Association, Psychometrika, Statistica Sinica, Chance, Marketing Science, Management Science, and Journal of Marketing Research. He also serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Statistical Association and the Journal of Marketing Research, and is on the Editorial Boards of Marketing Letters, Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Quantitative Marketing and Economics, and the Quarterly Journal of Electronic Commerce.

Professor Bradlow has won numerous teaching awards at Wharton, including the Linback Award for Distinguished PhD Teaching and Mentoring, the Anvil Award for MBA Education, MBA Core Curriculum teaching award, the Miller-Sherrerd MBA Core Teaching award and the Excellence in Teaching Award. His teaching interests include courses in Statistics, Marketing Research, Marketing Management and PhD Data Analysis, as well as any material related to customer analytics.

Professor Bradlow earned his PhD and Master’s degrees in Mathematical Statistics from Harvard University and his BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Chef Tiffany Derry

Beaumont, Texas native Tiffany Derry is the founder of Tiffany Derry Concepts and co-founder of T2D Concepts, the Texas-based purpose-driven hospitality group behind Roots Chicken Shak, Roots Southern Table, Radic, ‘Shef Food & Wine Festival and ‘Shef Tiffany spice and apparel line. 

Tiffany knew her purpose was to be in the kitchen from an early age. Growing up on her family’s farm in the South, farm-to-table eating wasn’t a trend, it was a way of life — eating with the seasons, canning and preserving fresh-picked fruits and vegetables, fresh pies on the counter, never letting anything go to waste. Her grandmother always welcomed guests to her kitchen with love and taught Tiffany that cooking is more than just putting a few ingredients together — it’s a passion. 

This propelled Tiffany to apply to her first cooking job at the age of 15 at IHOP, which she was denied from because of her race and gender and was hired as a server instead. Tiffany was eventually given the opportunity to cook when the kitchen was understaffed, and she stepped in and stepped up. In just a short amount of time, she was promoted to kitchen management, making her the youngest person to hold a managerial role in the restaurant. 

Tiffany earned her culinary degree from the Art Institute of Houston and deepened her appreciation for various  cuisines and cultures through the study abroad program that took her to Costa Rica, Mexico, Italy, France, China, and Hawaii. 

Tiffany went on to cook in esteemed kitchens throughout Texas including Pesce, Grotto Cucina Napolitano, and Go Fish Ocean Club. In 2010, Tiffany teamed with the Halstin Group to open Private|Social in Dallas to much fanfare, including a 4-star review and a “Best Chefs in DFW” title from The Dallas Morning News. 

Tiffany then decided to break out on her own and founded Tiffany Derry Concepts in 2013, a company established to support her business and culinary ventures including television shows, brand partnerships, a fast-casual concept, The Cupboard by Tiffany Derry. 

Tiffany stepped into the spotlight when she appeared on Bravo’s Top Chef Season 7, earning the title of “fan favorite” and finishing in the top four. 

Derry’s quiet confidence, warm southern charm, and culinary expertise made her a natural selection for Top Chef: All-Stars, where she was again a finalist. 

Tiffany’s enthusiastic personality has led to many more television appearances on shows such as Chopped, Chopped Kids, Top Chef, The Great American Recipe, Beat Bobby Flay, Tournament of Champions, The Great American Soul Food Cook-off, Bar Rescue, Top Chef Junior, Top Chef Amateurs, MasterChef and more. She is currently a judge on The Great American Recipe on PBS and the newest regular judge on MasterChef on Fox.  She previously was one of Bobby Flay’s Titans on Bobby’s Triple Threat on The Food Network. 

John Heilemann

John Heilemann is chief political columnist, host of the twice-weekly podcast Impolitic with John Heilemann, and partner at Puck. He also serves as national affairs analyst for MS NOW and co-host of the podcast Hacks On Tap with renowned political strategists David Axelrod and Mike Murphy. Previously, Heilemann was a creator, host, and executive producer of the groundbreaking weekly political documentary series The Circus, which was nominated for multiple Emmy, Critics Choice, and IDA awards in its eight-season run on Showtime from 2016 to 2023. In 2019, he co-founded the pioneering online video news start-up The Recount and served as its executive editor before selling the company four years later. From 2014 to 2017, he was a co-anchor of the MSNBC and Bloomberg TV series With All Due Respect and managing editor of Bloomberg Politics. In 2008, he hosted Download, a four-part docu-series on the rise of the Internet for the Discovery Channel.

A former staff writer for New York, The New Yorker, Wired, and The Economist, Heilemann is the co-author of Game Change and Double Down (about the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections) and author of Pride Before The Fall (about the Microsoft antitrust case). All three books were New York Times bestsellers; Game Change held the No. 1 spot for 11 weeks and was adapted into a feature film for HBO that went on to win five Emmys, three Golden Globes, and a Peabody Award. Educated at Northwestern University, Oxford, and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, John was born and raised in Los Angeles and lives now in Shokan, New York, and Manhattan.

Mark McKinnon

Mark McKinnon is a political advisor, reform advocate, columnist, and television producer. He was the creator and co-host of Showtime's Emmy-nominated hit documentary series "The Circus" — the longest-running, most-watched unscripted show in the history of the network which ran for eight seasons.

McKinnon has worked for many causes, companies, and candidates, including President George W. Bush, Senator John McCain, late Governor Ann Richards, and Bono. He was the chief media advisor for five winning presidential primary and general election campaigns. Dedicated to bipartisanship, McKinnon helped start No Labels, an organization dedicated to bringing our parties together to problem solve and heal the partisan divide in our country.

According to Broadcasting and Cable magazine, McKinnon is one of “a handful of players behind every big decision, consensus or roadblock in Washington . . . putting a unique, sometimes hidden stamp on the outcome of today’s debates.” Politics Daily writes: “He’s known for his originality in a field typified by copycats, a mellow personality in a world populated with high-strung brutes and ecumenical urges in a profession dominated by its unadulterated partisans.”

“McKinnon is evidence that principled centrism is not an oxymoron,” wrote John Avalon in a Daily Beast column about the 25 Best Centrist Pundits. “McKinnon piloted John McCain’s 2008 primary campaign to victory. But he announced in advance that if Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination; he would ride off into the sunset rather than participate in the negative attacks he knew would be required. This is unheard of in the world of modern politics, where partisanship trumps principle as a matter of course.”

President George W. Bush says of McKinnon, “I was really impressed by Mark’s creativity, and I was particularly impressed by his honesty.” Senator John McCain, in his typical straight-talk fashion, remarks, “He’s almost a genius.” And President Barack Obama calls McKinnon “a class act.”

McKinnon has been a regular columnist for The Daily Beast, The London Daily Telegraph, and Vanity Fair, and was a consultant to the HBO show “The Newsroom” and Netflix’s “House of Cards.”

McKinnon attended the University of Texas at Austin and served as editor of the award-winning university newspaper, The Daily Texan; he was arrested and jailed during his tenure in 1980 for defending the first amendment. He spent several years in Nashville working as a songwriter with Kris Kristofferson (and was wildly unsuccessful). McKinnon also is a two-time Ironman finisher. His quality of life is exceptionally enhanced by the enduring love and patience of his wife, Annie — whom he started dating before he had a driver’s license.