Bestselling author and global business thought leader to keynote Utah Valley University Presidential Lecture

Utah Valley University (UVU) today announced that CEO of Disruption Advisors, host of the podcast “Disrupt Yourself,” and bestselling author Whitney Johnson will be the university’s spring Presidential Lecture Series speaker. Johnson’s lecture will be held on February 16 at 11:30 a.m. in the Keller Building (KB) Vallejo Auditorium on UVU’s Orem Campus. 

Johnson, a global thought leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach, is recognized as one of the world’s top 10 leading business thinkers in the world, as named by Thinkers50. She is also the author of several bestselling books, including “Disrupt Yourself” “How to Build an A Team,” and her most recent book “Smart Growth: How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company,” published in 2022.

“Whitney Johnson is a great mentor and personal friend of mine,” said Dr. Astrid S. Tuminez, president of UVU. “From cofounding and leading Disruption Advisors as CEO to authoring several bestselling books on organizational and leadership growth, Whitney’s insights apply to everyone — regardless of where you’re at in your career or life in general. She distills lessons for continuous growth and peak performance. Our students and community can learn so much from her.”

Johnson is a popular lecturer for Harvard Business Publishing’s Corporate Learning and has 1.8 million followers on LinkedIn, where she was selected as a Top Voice in 2020. She posts a weekly episode of the “Disrupt Yourself” podcast, which has millions of downloads.

She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in music, became an award-winning Wall Street stock analyst, cofounded the successful Disruptive Innovation Fund at Harvard Business School, and created and leads Disruption Advisors.

The spring Presidential Lecture Series is free and open to UVU students, faculty, and staff, as well as to the public online and in person. To see her live in the auditorium, reserve free seats at ­­­­­­https://www.uvu.edu/president/events.html. Livestreaming can be accessed through the same web page.

The UVU Presidential Lecture Series is sponsored by the Office of the President and the Office of Engaged Learning. International scholars, experts, and leaders from various disciplines have participated in this twice-annual event.