Meet Our Keynote Speaker

KEN Salazar

U.s. Senator, secretary of the Interior, and ambassador to Mexico

A fifth-generation Coloradan whose family has called the American Southwest home for more than four centuries, Salazar brings a rare vantage point to this year's theme, one shaped by deep ancestral roots and a career at the highest levels of U.S. and hemispheric diplomacy. He has served as a United States Senator, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico.

  • In his new memoir, Borderlands: My Fight for an Inclusive America, Salazar makes the case that our past is not something to move beyond, but the very foundation we build from, arguing that the story of the Americas has always been one of shared land, shared history, and shared destiny. Drawing on that legacy, he envisions a New North American Alliance rooted in security, prosperity, and cultural exchange between the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

    In his keynote, Salazar will reflect on how honoring where we come from, as families, as nations, as a hemisphere, is what makes it possible to build the future together. His remarks set the stage for the day's central question: how do we take the lessons of our shared past and turn them into the alliances, partnerships, and communities that will define what comes next?

    This is a conversation about where the Americas have been and where they're headed next, and it happens live on October 22.