Chris Anderson is the curator of the TED Conferences

Sunny Bates is one of the world's great connectors. Her impact on my life can hardly be overstated.

When I first arrived in America, 15 years ago, she introduced me to a series of contacts and organizations that would prove absolutely instrumental to my work here. They led directly to key staff hires, to my joining the Young Presidents' Organization, and to a series of great, enduring friendships. Most significantly, she is the person who introduced me to the TED Conference (which I now run), a truly life-changing experience.

She has a unique combination of skills: the ability to understand—truly understand—someone's needs, and to match those against an astonishing, encyclopedic knowledge of literally thousands of special people and possibilities. Combine that with her irrepressible passion for life, the pure sunny-ness of Sunny, and you have a real force of nature who brings warmth, light, and joy everywhere she goes.