Conversations with Mike Milken

How should investors think about economic uncertainty in a changing global landscape?At the 2025 Milken Institute Global Conference, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joins Michael Milken to discuss the policies shaping America’s economic direction from trade and taxation to deregulation and investment flows. The conversation examines market volatility, fiscal challenges, and the long-term outlook for growth, offering insights into why the U.S. economy continues to attract global capital despite ongoing uncertainty.Milken Institute Fireside Chats features candid conversations with global leaders across business, finance, health, philanthropy, and public policy. Recorded live at Milken Institute events around the world, each episode offers insight into the ideas, innovations, and leadership shaping economies and improving lives.Subscribe to Milken Institute Fireside Chats: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Iui3aVUAz1TsdVoVvD4b6

“How do we think about building an inclusive product that represents what families look like today, which might be very different than what families looked like 200 years ago. We want voices from all over to help us shape that product.” With 20 years of experience in the technology sector – including stints at eBay, PayPal, and an executive position at Facebook – Deb Liu now leads the high-tech portal where access to 30 billion genealogical records can provide a deeper understanding of one’s unique heritage. With 20 million users worldwide, Ancestry is the largest for-profit company of its kind. As the daughter of Chinese immigrants, Liu knows how her company’s services can transcend matching names to data. “What we build at Ancestry is not just a tool to share information,” she tells Mike, “but it's really about storytelling and actually building something that hopefully you'll give to your children and your grandchildren someday… It's really the story of all the people who made decisions, just like my parents leaving their home to go to another country. It's those stories that actually make us who we are today.”

“Asian Americans are now beginning to find our voice. We’re learning that we need to be full participants in our democracy. The rise in violence and hateful rhetoric against the Asian American community during the COVID 19 pandemic has brought this community to a greater realization of the need to participate more fully in our country’s institutions, and be more vocal and visible.” As the excited 8-year-old girl watched the land of her birth recede from her view as her cargo ship pulled away from shore, Elaine Chao could only dream of the opportunities awaiting her in the U.S. After learning English and earning excellent grades, she would receive an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and eventually rise to become the first woman of Asian heritage to serve in a President’s cabinet, first as the 24th U. S. Secretary of Labor, and most recently as the 18th U.S. Secretary of Transportation. Along the way, she served as Chair of the Federal Maritime Commission, President and CEO of United Way of America, and Director of the Peace Corps. “As I review my life’s journey,” she tells Mike, “I don't look back upon the accomplishments so much as the rich gifts that I am now blessed to possess, which is love of family and friends, the respect of peers and colleagues, the ability to have led an impactful life, and, hopefully, the continued ability to make a difference in the world.”

“We all have learned the things that a few months ago we thought were not possible were really possible. … As I think about manufacturing, I think about two big changes. First is the creation of more decentralized manufacturing networks, where companies will be able to produce closer … to where their customers will be. The second big change will be driven by personalization.” After launching his 30-year career at HP with an internship, Enrique Lores was named CEO in November 2019. In between, he learned virtually every facet of the iconic company, helping it achieve its current status as a leader in the technology sector. For HP’s future, the Madrid-born Lores sees increasing market share in the biomedical sector, as personalized medicine drives demand for 3D printing. “We are building microprocessors for fluids,” he tells Mike, “and with them we will be able to do diagnostics and measure and identify potential diseases. We will also be able to create personalized medicine. So if you are going through a difficult treatment, we will be able to create a specific medicine designed only for you, and that medicine will be built in your home, at your home. That ability and option to drive the democratization of the healthcare space is one of the most inspiring efforts that we have in the company. Not only because of the business it will create, but also because of the impact it will have in the world.”

“The crisis happened at a time of exponential change in technology that was already transforming the way we work, how we engage with clients, how we make decisions. … And then you instantly had behavioral change at a scale that we've never seen in the past.” Julie Sweet believes large companies should be flexible and light on their feet. Case in point: her own Accenture. When she became CEO of the multinational professional services company in 2019, she instituted sweeping changes to its operating model and invested billions in a new cloud system, which left their half million employees in 120 countries in a much better position to withstand the pandemic. It is this kind of foresight that led the New York Times to call her “one of the most powerful women in corporate America” and Fortune to rank her number one on its “Most Powerful Women in Business” list. “I am talking to many companies now who say we want to move as fast as we did, “she tells Mike. “And my simple question is, ‘What have you changed?’ Because large organizations in particular can’t operate in crisis mode forever. What do they need to change to compete and to be successful in what I call the new reality?”

“The process of digitization – whether that was e-commerce in retail, or online gaming for media, online streaming in the media business, digital platforms for the public sector – was already underway. But it enormously accelerated with the pandemic.” In his two years as CEO of Google Cloud, Thomas Kurian has seen revenues for his company’s services soar more than 40 percent. The Indian-born former president of Oracle believes that the “new normal” of telecommuting will continue to help drive future growth – as long as Google Cloud remembers its core values and who it serves. “Leadership during this time of transition,” he tells Mike, “a time of difficulty in many cases, has been not just about the tactics and the strategy, but also the purpose and the mission. And that has helped us unify our entire organization around this notion of supporting customers during this period of change for them. And we call that the notion of customer empathy.”

“When we get out of this pandemic, I suspect people are going to want to flock to the movie theaters. But they're also going to say, I still want my content delivered. So, the movie industry is going to face a decision. Do they offer it both ways – on your iPad the same day as the release in the theater? What's the model? They're determining that as we speak. And I think COVID has upended the movie business even more than usual.” Most actresses who come to Hollywood don’t end up running a major motion picture studio. But in 1980, Sherry Lansing became the first woman to do so, first leading 20th Century Fox, then Paramount Pictures for more than 12 years. She had a hand in over 200 films including “Forrest Gump,” “Braveheart,” and “Titanic.” Since her retirement, she has embarked on what she calls an “encore” career of philanthropy. The Sherry Lansing Foundation is dedicated to cancer research, health, public education, and encouraging seniors to pursue their own encore careers. “Every project I've ever worked on was hard and took a long time,” she tells Mike. “And one of the traits you have to have in any job is resiliency. And you also have to believe in something outside of yourself, that what you're fighting for is worth fighting for. It's worth the time, it's worth the effort. If you don't have that belief, you will give up.”

Sir Andrew Witty President, UnitedHealth Group; CEO, Optum; Co-Leader, COVID-19 Vaccine Development, World Health Organization George Yancopoulos President and Chief Scientific Officer, Regeneron Esther Krofah Executive Director, FasterCures “Are we willing to do for life sciences and global defense what we were willing to do for the financial environment in the 2008 financial crisis? Because if you compare the trillions of dollars committed to stabilize the financial systems to the billions of dollars which are being committed to stabilize the health system, they don't compare. They really don't.” – Sir Andrew Witty In a special episode, three of biotech’s most valuable players convene for a wide-ranging conversation about the pandemic. The consensus among Sir Andrew Witty (UnitedHealth, Optum and WHO), Esther Krofah (FasterCures) George Yancopoulos (Regeneron) is that getting future pandemics under control will require cross-sector collaboration and investment to build on current successful strategies. “It's not what we did in the last six months, or the last nine months that will have led to saving us from the pandemic,” George Yancopoulos tells Mike. “If we can successfully complete these efforts that we've undertaken, it will have been the decades of investments in science, technology and platforms that put us in a position to respond, and we can certainly do better as a society being better prepared.”

Albert Bourla Chairman and CEO, Pfizer Alex Gorsky Chairman and CEO, Johnson & Johnson “I think history has shown us to have major leaps forward almost after every crisis. Whether it's a war, a natural disaster, or frankly a big challenge such as going to the moon, these kinds of inflection points force us to go in new directions to collaborate and to accelerate technological breakthroughs.” – Alex Gorsky Two of the most important CEOs in the world today – Pfizer’s Albert Bourla and Johnson & Johnson’s Alex Gorsky – spoke recently with Mike at the Milken Institute’s Future of Health Summit. While Pfizer is already scaling up production and distribution of their mRNA-based vaccine, Gorsky’s company is looking forward to the third-stage clinical trial results for their single dose, vector-based therapy. The unprecedented collaboration fostered at all levels of the biomedical sector has paid dividends, with many more potential treatments to come. “I'm very proud for what we have been able to achieve,” Albert Bourla tells Mike. “We will see many more companies in the next few weeks and months demonstrating similar successes in their projects against COVID because one vaccine or two vaccines will not be enough for the entire world. The world needs options.”

“The UAE was among the first countries in the world to make sure it implemented and successfully executed a testing policy. We ramped up on capacity, on ICU space, on respirator supplies. And that resulted in one of the lowest mortality rates in the world.” As the Group CEO and Managing Director of Mubadala Investment Company, H.E. Khaldoon Khalifi Al Mubarak is responsible for creating sustainable financial returns for Abu Dhabi, overseeing more than $230 billion in assets across 50+ businesses and investments in more than 50 countries. Considered one of the royal family’s most trusted advisors, he is especially proud of what the Emirati response to the pandemic tells the world. “In the easy times you know your people for sure,” he tells Mike, “But the tough times – that's when you know the mettle of your people, be at a company, be it in the country. And 2020 showed the mettle, I think, of the UAE and the Emiratis.”

David Feinberg Vice President, Google Health; Advisory Board Member, FasterCures Esther Krofah Executive Director, FasterCures “What we've really tried to do is get information out there to the public, to researchers, to public health folks, so they can make better decisions about what's happening so that we can all get through this.” – David Feinberg When the history of COVID is written, David Feinberg and Esther Krofah will be among those rightfully celebrated for their work in furthering public understanding and private collaboration throughout the pandemic. As head of Google Health, Dr. Feinberg oversees the tech giant’s efforts, including contact tracing and mental health support. As Executive Director of FasterCures, Krofah forges cross-sector partnerships and oversees the organization’s COVID-19 Treatment and Vaccine Tracker, a publicly accessible, real-time tool to understand the latest research and developments. “We've seen a tremendous amount of collaboration with regard to COVID,” she tells Mike. “As we think about other disease conditions, we realized that we don't have to work in silos. We can come together to share data, make libraries available, and collaborate on medical research that can accelerate these efforts going forward.”

George Yancopoulos, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Regeneron Joseph Vinetz Professor of Medicine, Yale University; Infectious Disease Physician Tal Zaks Chief Medical Officer, Moderna “We're going to need vaccines to create as widespread herd immunity as we can, but we're also going to need drugs that are targeted against the virus that can provide immediate protection and also treat those who are already sick. So we have multiple clinical trials ongoing with our antibody cocktail, both for prophylaxis or prevention and also for treatment.” – George Yancopoulos, Regeneron Three world-renowned bioscience leaders join Mike Milken and Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) chief science officer Howard Soule for a conversation on the state of the COVID-19 challenge, herd immunity, and unique approaches to developing safe and effective vaccines, antibodies, and other treatments. Recorded on August 29 as part of a PCF event, this conversation is especially notable as it describes the antibody cocktail that would later be administered to President Donald Trump after he contracted the virus. Moderna’s Tal Zaks is optimistic that scientists are on the verge of a breakthrough that we’ll learn more about very soon. “In the coming months,” he tells Howard, “expect data from us and potentially some of the other vaccine companies that also have started phase 3 trials that will conclusively demonstrate that these vaccines can work. I hope all of them succeed because I don't think a single company can carry the weight of what's needed to protect all of us and all those who need it.”

“There was this ventilator company that needed help. We realized there was one part on the ventilator that was very similar to the way a transmission is designed and they were having quality issues with it. We brought in transmission engineers and they figured out a way to improve the part and the ability to produce it.” Just before this interview was recorded, General Motors announced it had completed a contract with the federal government to supply 30,000 ventilators for COVID patients. It’s just one example of how Chairman and CEO Mary Barra sees her mission as more than just leading a car company. A proud GM employee for nearly 40 years, Barra is grateful for the opportunities and mentorship that helped prepare her to be the first female CEO of a major auto manufacturer – and she’s determined to pay it forward. “We talked about wanting to be the most inclusive company in the world,” she tells Mike. “But I'm quick to say I want every company to be there because if we all provide inclusive work environments, we will change the environment in the country and beyond. … We're looking very comprehensively at General Motors and how we drive change [and] create an environment where everybody can bring their true self to work.”