TEDxWestlake July 12, 2012

Our first TEDxWestlake explored the accelerating change in the world around us. This change is largely driven by the power of the digital infrastructure built over the last few decades. William Gibson has remarked: "The future is already here it's just unevenly distributed." While we can't predict the future, we tried to uncover and mine some of these veins.

We were lucky to have speakers from a wide array of disciplines, from kinetic art to philosophy to hybrid social ventures, to come share their stories with our audience of business students and innovators, and help us wonder about what might lie ahead.

As a dualdegree Veterinary Business student at the University of Pennsylvania, Molly Dominguez is challenging the future role of the veterinary profession. In the United States, a veterinarian is traditionally perceived as a doctor for dogs, cats and horses. Yet, during Molly's six years as an officer on active duty in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps, including a deployment in Iraq, she learned about the global leadership of veterinary medicine in promoting political, economic, and public health security. Drawing from these experiences, she captures the essence of why spreading the capabilities and expertise of the veterinary profession is critical for the United States' foreign policy over the next decade. Molly is a graduate of the United States Military Academy and received her Master's in International Relations from Oklahoma University. Her husband, Augie Dominguez, is currently deployed to Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, selforganized events that bring people together to share a TEDlike experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, selforganized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are selforganized.