MIAMI—Jonah Lehrer, author of New York Times bestsellers Imagine: How Creativity Works and How We Decide, has joined the lineup of speakers for the first Global Public Relations Summit, which will take place in Miami at the end of October. Lehrer will participate in a conversation with new Ketchum chief executive Rob Flaherty, focused on “Unlocking the Brain's Secrets about Creativity and Decision Making.”

Lehrer has been hailed as “an important new thinker” by The Los Angeles Times and “something of a popular science prodigy” by The New York Times, a man of "considerable talents."

A graduate of Columbia University with a degree in neuroscience, he studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and earned Masters Degree in 20th century literature and philosophy. Lehrer is a former contributing editor at Wired Magazine and National Public Radio's Radio Lab. His blog, Frontal Cortex, is featured at the website of the New Yorker, where he is currently a staff writer.

His most recent book, Imagine, focuses on the science of creativity and his belief that creativity is not a "gift" possessed by the lucky few but a range of distinct thought processes that everyone can all learn to use more effectively.

Drawing on lessons from Elizabethan England, Bob Dylan, and Pixar studios, Lehrer discusses the importance of “embracing the rut,” thinking like a child, and daydreaming productively, in order to make our neighborhoods more vibrant, our companies more productive, and our schools more effective.

Flaherty is senior partner, and chief executive officer at Ketchum, which he joined in 1989. A specialist in corporate positioning and issues management, he has counseled some of the world's largest companies and brands, including IBM, FedEx, Philips and Pfizer.

Lehrer and Flaherty joins a stellar lineup of speakers that includes CMOs such as Marc Pritchard (Procter & Gamble), Jon Iwata (IBM), and Christa Carone (Xerox); CCOs such as Selim Bingol (GM), Ian Wright (Diageo), and Andre Manning (Philips); and agency leaders such as Harris Diamond (Weber Shandwick), Jack Martin (Hill+Knowlton Strategies), and Dave Senay (Fleishman-Hillard).