Speaker Profile

Ken Jennings was a Salt Lake City computer programmer in June 2004 when he unexpectedly vaulted to fame after his six-month appearance on the quiz show Jeopardy!  He left the show in November after winning 74 consecutive games and over $2.5 million, both American game show records. In the process, he became a nerd folk icon, appeared on television programs from The Tonight Show to Sesame Street to The Simpsons, and was named by Barbara Walters as one of the ten most fascinating people of 2004.

Today Jennings is the author of twelve books, including Brainiac, the New York Times bestsellers Maphead and Because I Said So, and the Junior Genius series for children.  His most recent book is Planet Funny: How Comedy Ruined Everything, about the rise of humor as a force in modern life. He is a co-creator of the podcast Omnibus, a complete time capsule of human achievement, and speaks to college and corporate audiences about education, human cognition, and his 2011 Jeopardy! match against IBM’s super-computer “Watson.”  He lives in Seattle with his wife and two children.