Clea Conner

CEO, Open To Debate Foundation; Moderator

Clea Conner is CEO of the Open To Debate Foundation, a non-partisan, non-profit media organization whose mission is to restore critical thinking, facts, reason, and civility to our nation’s public discourse. Clea has produced over 150 award-winning debates with a robust focus on geopolitics and international affairs. Her efforts have created an award-winning weekly radio program, podcast, and streaming platform for diverse perspectives to debate the most pressing foreign policy challenges of our time. Clea has spearheaded programs in partnership with the Council on Foreign Relations, the World Economic Forum, the Aspen Strategy Group, and the German Marshall Fund. Named one of Crain’s New York “40 Under 40,” Clea developed “Up For Debate” and “That’s Debatable” as television programs on Bloomberg, PBS, and Newsy. She also produced the first debate between AI and a human debater in collaboration with IBM’s Project Debater. Prior to her work at Open to Debate / Intelligence Squared U.S., Clea served as a Strategic Advisor to Eurasia Group’s GZERO Media and other startups at the intersection of media and technology. She holds more than two dozen awards for excellence in public affairs programming across radio, television, and podcasting. Her writing has been published by the World Economic Forum, Real Clear Media, and Politico, among others.