Former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are set to headline a private business conference at the Overland Park Convention Center next Saturday, drawing an expected crowd of roughly 5,000 attendees. The event, called Connect26, is closed to the general public.
What Connect26 Is and Who's Behind It
According to KCTV, Connect26 is an annual gathering hosted by Creative Planning and scheduled for September 26, 2026. The Overland Park stop marks a homecoming of sorts, with the station reporting that Creative Planning is returning its flagship gathering to the Kansas City headquarters market. The conference will feature a moderated conversation between Obama and Peter Mallouk, Creative Planning's president and CEO, per the same report.
The wealth management firm hosts about 20 client events across the country each year, the station's report notes, but Connect26 stands out both for its size and for the star power on the marquee. Content at the summit is expected to address finance, technology, health, and politics, the outlet reports.
Two Political Heavyweights on One Stage
Obama, a former president, and Pompeo, a former secretary of state, will speak together at the Overland Park Convention Center, KCTV reports. Pompeo's résumé stretches back well before his time at the State Department: he served as CIA director from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th U.S. secretary of state from 2018 to 2021, according to Wikipedia. Before joining the Trump administration, Pompeo represented Kansas's 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House from 2011 to 2017, the same source notes.
Mallouk told KCTV that Creative Planning covers finance and economics and focuses on client wellness, and he said the firm brings political leaders to its events because policies influence economics. That rationale appears to explain the caliber of names the firm has assembled onstage in years past.
A Track Record of Bipartisan Bookings
Creative Planning has a history of pairing prominent political figures across the ideological spectrum, the station's report states. Past events have featured former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, along with political commentators Van Jones and Newt Gingrich, per the same account.
The roster also includes retired Gen. David Petraeus, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and former Defense Secretary Bob Gates, according to the outlet. With Obama and Pompeo now added to that list, Connect26 continues a pattern the Overland Park-based firm has built event after event: mixing finance talk with marquee political names to fill a convention hall of thousands.
