In San Jose Churchill Club has good events. Some bring 100 attendees. Others bring 500.

WHY THE CHURCHILL CLUB

Igniting Conversations to Encourage Innovation and Economic Growth This is our focus: to cultivate a one-stop-shop of world-class people—people like yourself—that ignites the kinds of conversations that lead to new ideas, enlivened dreams and personal motivation. A tall order, for sure, but one we’ve been successful at for 29 years. Over the past two-and-a-half decades, the Churchill Club has hosted industry and government leaders and luminaries such as Marc Andreessen, Steve Ballmer, Craig Barrett, Ursula Burns, John Chambers, Jim Clark, Bill Clinton, Larry Ellison, Bill Gates, Andy Grove, William Hewlett, Arianna Huffington, Bill Joy, Dean Kamen, John McCain, Scott McNealy, Lew Platt, Eric Schmidt, and many more. It’s an impressive list, but it would be no more than a roster if we weren’t committed to the idea of an independent forum that facilitates the open and timely exchange of ideas, opinions and viewpoints among business leaders and innovators. At the Churchill Club, collaborators and competitors meet on stage to share and discuss their newest thinking. They commit to have unscripted conversations that go beyond the hype. Attendees have the opportunity to ask questions directly of speakers, uncensored by the moderator. We host 30-40 such events every year, regularly drawing more than 400 of our 6,500 members. We also offer opportunities to network and develop critical business relationships with influential individual and corporate members representing a diverse range of industries, companies and expertise. Don't miss out on the many individual and corporate member benefits. Join the club and become a part of one of the most acclaimed organizations in Silicon Valley. What’s with the bowler hat? We’re glad you asked. Once a favored chapeau of Winston Churchill, it also became a symbol of class equality throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The bowler leveled the playing field and encouraged the free exchange of ideas—exactly what we strive to do by igniting conversations.  “Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.” – Winston Churchill

Churchill Club History

The first meeting of the Churchill Club was held November 12, 1985, featuring keynote speaker Robert Noyce, inventor of the integrated circuit and founder of Fairchild and Intel. More than 275 attended that first program.

Churchill Club was founded by Rich Karlgaard, now publisher of Forbes magazine, and Tony Perkins, now Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Red Herring Communications. Together, Tony, Rich, and a group of friends from the Ed Zschau senate campaign, built an organization dedicated to producing programs where "important people say important things". As a Churchill Club speaker, then Arkansas governor Bill Clinton suggested that America needs a nation of Churchills-leaders rather than followers.

Why Churchill?

Perhaps there is no historical personage who would more heartily approve of this endeavor than the Churchill Club’s namesake, Winston Churchill. Reared in the tradition of parliamentary democracy, Churchill's character and career personify the democratic values of open discourse and freedom as well as what is now called the "entrepreneurial spirit"-attributes epitomized in Churchill's own qualities of intelligence, creativity, risk-taking and boundless energy. His vision, perseverance, and wit provided the bridge necessary to bring together great leaders, opinions, ideas, and events. In fact, Churchill is just the sort of freely achieving personality that highlights democracy at its best. In America, we will gladly adopt him as our own and more particularly as the namesake of the Churchill Club.

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We welcome program ideas and speaker recommendations from our community.

Churchill programs range from one-on-one conversations from industry giants to panels with 3-4 speakers and a moderator. Our Open Forum programs often feature roundtable, moderated discussions with little or no individual presentations or PowerPoint. Our goal is to present topics that appeal to a broad segment of Silicon Valley, with speakers who are articulate, open, and even a bit contrarian. We think of our stage as a place for fresh conversations about what’s new, next, not broadly known rather than a platform for pre-articulated messages or a repeat of information readily available elsewhere.

The best programs are usually a mix of practical information, visionary thinking, compelling anecdotes, and opinionated discussion with a touch of wit and irreverence.

Successful proposals most often include:

• A suggested program title 
• Short paragraph outlining the point-of-view of the program and why it would be of interest to our members
• Other executives who would be appropriate for the panel and whether you have connections to contact those potential panelists.
• We consider each proposal based upon the strength of the proposed panelists, the newsworthiness of the topic, recent and future confirmed programs and the potential appeal to our members. 

Due to the high volume of proposals we receive, we cannot always give an immediate answer to each and every one. We thank you in advance for your patience.

We thank you for your interest and we hope to work with you on a future Churchill Club program. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Pre-reg closes today at 2:30PM. On-site reg will be available.              TUE JAN 13 WHAT IS OUR DIGITAL DESTINY?   Join CEA Chief Economist Shawn DuBravac and consultant and author Larry Downes for a fresh, thoughtful conversation about the massive impending impact of digitization, sensorization and connectivity. Learn more >>                   THU JAN 22 TRENDS IN JOURNALISM: WHEN CRITICS BECOME CAPITALISTS   Journalists perform an important role as critics and watchdogs of some of the world's most powerful people and companies.  Learn more >>                   WED JAN 28 DATA PRIVACY TRENDS 2015  Forrester Research predicts that data privacy will be a competitive differentiator in 2015. Here's your chance to hear candid, up-to-the-minute views from an impressive panel of leading thinkers about what matters most in data privacy for the year ahead. Learn more >>

JOIN + CONNECT Join the conversation to connect with new ideas and each other. Please follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.  NOW ON YOUTUBE Mobile Innovation in China 12.11.14 Three respected east-west innovators, Jerry Yang, Qi Lu & Hans Tung, have a forward-looking conversation about mobile Internet company trends in China, and their implications for future innovation and economic growth.                       WATCH>>

Pre-reg closes today at 2:30PM. On-site reg will be available.     WHAT IS OUR DIGITAL DESTINY? TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2015 d REGISTER Time: 7:30AM Registration & Breakfast | 8:00 AM Program Location: Accenture, San Jose |  Directions & Parking Information SPEAKERS: Larry Downes, Consultant; Co-author, Big Bang Disruption: Strategy in the Age of Devastating Innovation Shawn DuBravac, Chief Economist and Sr. Director of Research, CEA; Author, Digital Destiny: How the New Age of Data Will Change the Way We Live, Work, and Communicate       While very few objects are digitally connected and capable of sending and receiving information and commands, it's inevitable that digitization will branch far beyond what we can see today. Join CEA Chief Economist Shawn DuBravac and consultant and author Larry Downes for a fresh, thoughtful conversation about the massive impending impact of digitization, sensorization and connectivity. What are the digital platforms and business models of tomorrow? Don't miss this chance to peer into the future and gain insights into opportunities for innovation and economic growth. Sponsor:             Corporate Members: Corporate passes will be accepted for this event. We ask that if you register using corporate passes, please do so 72 business hours in advance. Please e-mail info@churchillclub.org.     TRENDS IN JOURNALISM: WHEN CRITICS BECOME CAPITALISTS THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2015 d REGISTER Time: 5:30 PM Registration & Hors d'oeuvres | 7:00 PM Program Location: Autodesk Gallery, San Francisco | Directions & Parking Information SPEAKERS: Cory Johnson, Anchor and Editor-at-Large, Bloomberg TV  Sarah Lacy, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, PandoDaily  Josh Quittner, Head of Partnerships and Editorial, Flipboard Inc.   Moderator: Alan Deutschman, Professor and Reynolds Chair, Business Journalism, University of Nevada, Reno  Journalists perform an important role as critics and watchdogs of some of the world's most powerful people and companies. How have these vital functions been affected by escalating trends such as ownership changes, the demands of 24/7 online news, and star journalists leaving major news institutions to work for other types of companies or become startup media entrepreneurs? What happens to service in the public interest when journalists accept the role of working to help people make money-or making it themselves?  Sponsor:             Corporate Members: Corporate passes will be accepted for this event. We ask that if you register using corporate passes, please do so 72 business hours in advance. Please e-mail info@churchillclub.org.     DATA PRIVACY TRENDS 2015 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2015 d REGISTER Time: 5:30 PM Registration | 6:00PM Dinner | 7:00 PM Program Location: W San Francisco | Directions & Parking Information SPEAKERS: Chris Babel, CEO, TRUSTe  Casey Oppenheim, Co-founder & CEO, Disconnect Justin Somaini, Chief Trust Officer, Box  Additional speakers pending Moderator: Fatemeh Khatibloo, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research The ever-growing demand for big data. Increasingly effective "bad actors," leading to the worst year on record for data breaches. Privacy practices designed only to deal with compliance or breach response. Conflicting global privacy laws. A growing concern among consumers about who's doing what with their data. These and other factors are impacting corporate and consumer needs and behaviors around data privacy like never before. Consumers are increasingly aware of the risks and options as their personal data has effectively become a form of currency. Forrester Research predicts that privacy will be a top business technology agenda item for 2015. Here's your chance to hear candid, up-to-the-minute views from an impressive panel of leading thinkers about what matters most in data privacy for the year ahead. Presented by Churchill Club, TRUSTe, and the National Cyber Security Alliance in support of Data Privacy Day on January 28-an annual, international day of awareness designed to educate people on privacy issues and how to safeguard personal information. Be among the first to gain access to new NCSA and TRUSTe research with the latest insights into consumer attitudes about privacy. Sponsor:           Partner:             Corporate Members: Corporate passes will be accepted for this event. We ask that if you register using corporate passes, please do so 72 business hours in advance. Please e-mail info@churchillclub.org.     Contact Us phone: +1 408.265.0130 | email: info@churchillclub.org | web: churchillclub.org Copyright © 2015. All Rights Reserved.