(801)-754-6604
Wasatch Speaker Series
Presented by
2020-2021 Speakers
Anderson Cooper
Multiple Award-Winning Journalist and News Anchor; Host of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360
Anderson Cooper is the anchor of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360°, a global newscast that goes beyond the headlines with in-depth reporting and investigations. The show airs weeknights at 8:00pm ET on CNN and is simulcast to an international audience on CNN International.
Since the start of his career in 1992, Cooper has worked in more than forty countries and has covered nearly all-major news events around the world, often reporting from the scene...(See Full Bio).
W. Kamau Bell
Sociopolitical Comedian
W. Kamau Bell is a stand-up comedian and the host and executive producer of the Emmy Award winning CNN docu-series United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell.
His latest stand-up comedy special, Private School Negro, is available on Netflix. Kamau wrote a book with the easy-to-remember title, The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell: Tales of a 6' 4", African American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmatic, Black and Proud Blerd, Mama's Boy, Dad, and Stand-Up Comedian. He’s the ACLU Celebrity Ambassador for Racial Justice and serves on the advisory boards of Hollaback! and Donors Choose.
Rick Steves
Popular Travel Television Host and Bestselling Guidebook Author
Rick Steves is a popular public television host, a best-selling guidebook author, and an outspoken activist who encourages Americans to broaden their perspectives through travel. But above all else, Rick considers himself a teacher. He taught his first travel class at his college campus in the mid-1970s — and now, more than 40 years later, he still measures his success not by dollars earned, but by trips impacted.
Widely considered America's leading authority on European travel, Rick produces a best-selling series of guidebooks and is the author of Travel as a Political Act. He is dedicated to providing all Americans with access to travel information...(See Full Bio).
Theresa May
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2016-2019)
Theresa May served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016-2019, during an extraordinary time in global affairs. She is currently the Member of Parliament for Maidenhead, a position she's held for over two decades.
With audiences, Mrs. May gives an incisive examination and unique insight about how politics, technology, and business intersect at a time of profound global change. Sharing lessons from her experience over a storied career, she encourages listeners to recapture the spirit of common purpose in order to achieve progress across the world.
Mrs. May has been in politics at all levels for many years, starting out stuffing envelopes at her local Conservative Association before going on...(See Full Bio)
Wynton Marsalis
Internationally Acclaimed Musician, Composer and Bandleader, and Leading Advocate of American Culture
Wynton Marsalis is a world-renowned trumpeter, bandleader and composer, and a leading advocate of American culture. He presently serves as Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and Director of Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1961, Marsalis began his classical training on trumpet at age 12, entered The Juilliard School at age 17, and soon thereafter joined Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers... (See Full Bio).
Ken Burns
Emmy Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker
Ken Burns has been making documentary films for over forty years. Since the Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, Ken has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including The Civil War; Baseball; Jazz; The War; The National Parks: America’s Best Idea; The Roosevelts: An Intimate History; Jackie Robinson; The Vietnam War; and Country Music.
A December 2002 poll conducted by Real Screen Magazine listed The Civil War as second only to Robert Flaherty’s Nanook of the North as the “most influential documentary of all time,” and named Ken Burns and Robert Flaherty as the “most influential documentary makers” of all time...(See Full Bio)
Dr. David Eagleman
Neuroscientist, New York Times Bestselling Author, Writer & Presenter of The Brain on PBS
David Eagleman is a neuroscientist and a New York Times bestselling author. He is the writer and presenter of the international PBS series The Brain with David Eagleman and the author of the companion book, The Brain: The Story of You. He heads the Center for Science and Law, a national non-profit institute, and serves as an adjunct professor at Stanford University.
Dr. Eagleman’s areas of research include sensory substitution, time perception, vision, and synesthesia; he also studies the intersection of neuroscience with the legal system...(See Full Bio).
