Duncan Wardle, who spent 30 years as head of innovation and creativity at The Walt Disney Company, is the keynote speaker at the Vermont Captive Insurance Association's (VCIA) 2026 annual conference. At Disney, Wardle led innovation work across Imagineering, Marvel, Lucasfilm, Pixar and the Disney Parks. His projects included launching Buzz Lightyear into space with NASA. His keynote, titled "The Theory of Creativity™", will address why creative thinking is the one human capability that artificial intelligence cannot replace, how to challenge the rules of the captive industry to drive innovation, and concrete behaviours for embedding creative thinking into organisations. Wardle currently works as a speaker and consultant, and is a contributor to Fast Company, Forbes and the Harvard Business Review. He teaches innovation masterclasses at Yale, Harvard and Edinburgh University, and is a multiple TED speaker. VCIA describes the event as America's largest captive insurance conference. The 2026 conference takes place in Burlington, Vermont.
