TEDxJacksonville 2015: "Into the Machine" Speakers

Kevin Hyde of Jacksonville — Partner and employment lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP, former Jacksonville City Council President

Kevin E. Hyde is a partner and employment lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP. Mr. Hyde represents employers in a variety of human resources matters. His practice focuses on day-to-day employment counseling and workplace safety, and he has represented employers in numerous charges of discrimination, employment-discrimination cases, wage-hour and management-union matters. Mr. Hyde is managing partner of the firm’s Jacksonville office, and chair of the Labor & Employment Practice. He is also a member of the Automotive and Food & Beverage Industry Teams. Mr. Hyde speaks regularly at various programs and seminars, focusing on employment issues. He has served as keynote speaker at more than 30 state, regional, and national business and civic organization conventions.




Mark McCombs of Jacksonville — Engineer, nonprofit founder and affiliate partner for FIRST Lego League North Florida

Over the past 12 years Mark McCombs has been a part of FIRST Robotics as a student on a high school team, as a college mentor, a head coach, volunteer, tournament director, and now Affiliate Partner for FIRST Lego League in the North Florida Region. As a student in the program, mentors and engineering idols profoundly impacted Mark by turning his curiosities towards the field of Mechanical Engineering. As a result he founded a nonprofit with the mission of expanding access to the very program that shaped his experience as a young engineer. Mark believes that all 21st century students deserve a chance at engineering the future.




John Phillips of Jacksonville — Attorney who has represented the family of Jordan Davis and other victims in several high profile cases; has been featured on CNN, HLN and most other national networks  

John Phillips attended the University of Alabama for college and law school and shortly after moved to Jacksonville in 2001, which has become home to not only his own law firm, but his wife Angela and two children — Bennett (age 3) and Weston (age 1).

John is licensed to practice law in Florida, Georgia and Alabama and is the youngest in Northeast Florida to be both Board Certified in Civil Trial law and obtained the highest rating available of AV — Preeminent by Martindale, which has been rating lawyers since the 1800s.  John has also been recognized as one of the best lawyers in Jacksonville by readers of the Folio Weekly, Void Magazine and as the “Face of Justice” by Jacksonville Magazine, as well as many national awards and recognitions.

He is most known for his association with the Michael Dunn / Jordan Davis case, where he represented the family of Jordan Davis who was shot and killed in November 2012, but has represented victims in several high profile cases and has been featured on CNN, HLN and most other national networks.



Peter Rummell of Jacksonville — Real estate developer, entrepreneur and chief patron of One Spark, the World’s Largest Crowdfunding Festival

Peter Rummell has been active in the real estate development industry for over 40 years creating some of the most recognized and interesting projects in the world.  His career began in real estate in 1971 with the Sea Pines Company, developers of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and Amelia Island, Florida.  In 1977, he became general manager of Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida for the Arvida Corporation.  He joined the Rockefeller Center Management Corporation in New York as vice chairman in 1983, leaving in 1985 to become president of Disney Development Company.  Disney Development Company and Walt Disney Imagineering, the company’s design and creative division responsible for theme park development, were later merged and Rummell became chairman of the combined group, Walt Disney Imagineering.  From 1997 – 2008, Rummell was chairman and chief executive officer of The St. Joe Company.  He is also the founding board chair and chief patron of One Spark, the World’s Largest Crowdfunding Festival.