Skydiver Luke Aikins without parachute
Skydiver Luke Aikins descends toward a chute-less landing. (Credit: Mondelez International / Fox / Stride Gum via Tumblr)

Luke Aikins, the veteran skydiver who made headlines this summer by leaping from a plane at 25,000 feet without a parachute — and landing safely — will share insights from his high-flying adventures at the GeekWire Summit in downtown Seattle. The conference is now just a few weeks away, on Oct. 4 and 5.

Luke Aikins
Luke Aikins

Aikins, a resident of Shelton, Wash., will speak about the physics and science behind the jump, as well as leadership principles from the process. The jump involved two years of planning, leading up to a daring last-second flip that allowed him to land safely in a net at the Big Sky movie ranch in California’s Simi Valley. With the jump, Aikins became the first skydiver to leap from so high and land safely without a parachute or wingsuit.

The addition of Aikins to the lineup reflects our goal of drawing from a variety of perspectives to explore the future of technology, business and science at the GeekWire Summit. The conference, the largest of its kind in the Pacific Northwest, takes place Oct. 4-5 at the Sheraton in Seattle.

Aikins joins a lineup of technology, business and scientific heavyweights including Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi; Intellectual Ventures chief Nathan Myhrvold; DARPA chief Arati Prabhakar; Bloomberg Beta founding partner Shivon Zilis; Modumetal Co-founder and CEO Christina Lomasney; Microsoft EVP Peggy Johnson; Airbnb board member Jeff Jordan of Andreessen Horowitz; OfferUp CEO Nick Huzar; and Juno Therapeutics CEO Hans Bishop.

Check out the full lineup of speakers and get more details on the GeekWire Summit event page.

The GeekWire Summit, presented by Bank of America, explores what’s next in the innovation economy, while also creating strong and lasting bonds between those who attend. This year’s activities will start the evening of Oct. 3, with a welcome party at the amazing downtown headquarters of Zillow. That will be followed by conference activities on Oct. 4-5 at the Sheraton, including a fun party the evening of Oct. 4 on one of Seattle’s best rooftop decks.

Stay tuned for more details on the GeekWire Summit in the weeks ahead — we’ll be announcing additional speakers in the coming days — and grab your tickets below before the event sells out.

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