diff --git a/_includes/talk_card.html b/_includes/talk_card.html
index 86c28e3887..56d77d36c2 100644
--- a/_includes/talk_card.html
+++ b/_includes/talk_card.html
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ <h3 class="heading"><a href="{{ talk.url }}">{{ talk.title }}</a></h3>
         <div style="text-align: right;">
           {% assign speakers = site.data.speakers | where: "talk_num", talk.talk_number %}
           {% for member in speakers %}
-          <img src="/images/talks/{{ member.photo }}" alt="{{ member.name }}"
+          {% assign photo_src = member.photo | default: 'headshot_placeholder.jpg' %}
+          <img src="/images/talks/{{ photo_src }}" alt="{{ member.name }}"
                style="width: 60px; height: 60px; object-fit: cover; border-radius: 50%; margin-left: 0.5em;" />
           {% endfor %}
         </div>
diff --git a/_layouts/talk.html b/_layouts/talk.html
index 059b03f514..90e70290d1 100644
--- a/_layouts/talk.html
+++ b/_layouts/talk.html
@@ -54,7 +54,8 @@ <h4 class="mb-4">About the Authors</h4>
                 {% assign speaker = site.data.speakers | where: "talk_num", page.talk_number %}
                 {% for member in speaker %}
                 <a href="{{ member.link }}" target="_blank">
-                    <img src="/images/talks/{{ member.photo }}" alt="{{ member.name }}" class="img-fluid mb-3"
+                    {% assign photo_src = member.photo | default: 'headshot_placeholder.jpg' %}
+                    <img src="/images/talks/{{ photo_src }}" alt="{{ member.name }}" class="img-fluid mb-3"
                         style="width: 150px; height: 200px; object-fit: cover; border-radius: 0.5em;">
                 </a>
                 <p class="font-weight-bold">{{ member.name }}<br />
diff --git a/images/talks/headshot_placeholder.jpg b/images/talks/headshot_placeholder.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..abd025fd2c
Binary files /dev/null and b/images/talks/headshot_placeholder.jpg differ