2012 Festival Speakers

Greg Abbott - Texas Attorney General
Jose Aliseda - State Representative, R-Beeville; Candidate for Bee County District Attorney
Rafael Anchia - State Representative, D-Dallas; Vice Chairman, House Pensions, Investments and Financial Services Committee
Hope Andrade - Secretary of State
Al Armendariz - Former regional EPA official; Senior Campaign Representative, Sierra Club
Kip Averitt - Former State Senator, former chair, Senate Natural Resources Committee
David Bales - Chairman, Texans for Stem Cell Research
Nelson Balido - President, Border Trade Alliance; Commissioner, Texas Commission on the Arts
Gordon Bethune - Former CEO, Continental Airlines
Jeff Blackburn - Founder and Chief Counsel, Innocence Project of Texas
Dan Branch - State Representative, R-Dallas; Chairman, House Higher Education Committee
Sarita E. Brown - President, Excelencia in Education; Former Executive Director, White House Initiative for Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans
David A. Campbell - CEO, Luminant
John Carona - State Senator, R-Dallas; Chair, Senate Business & Commerce Committee
Kimberly Carter - Assistant Professor, University of Texas Southwestern Austin Programs
Joaquin Castro - State Representative, D-San Antonio; Candidate for U.S. Congress
Julián Castro - Mayor, San Antonio
Francisco Cigarroa - Chancellor, University of Texas System (tentative)
Garnet Coleman - State Representative, D-Houston; Chairman, House County Affairs Committee
Kerry Max Cook - Former death row inmate seeking exoneration
Ted Cruz - Republican candidate for U.S. Senate
Henry Cuellar - U.S. Representative, D-Laredo; Vice Chairman, House Steering and Policy Committee
Drew Darby - State Representative, R-San Angelo; Vice Chairman, House Transportation Committee
Deirdre Delisi - Former Chairwoman, Texas Transportation Commission
Robert Deuell - State Senator, R-Greenville; Vice Chairman, House Health & Human Services Committee
Anne Dunkelberg - Associate Director, Center for Public Policy Priorities
Chad Dunn - Attorney, Brazil & Dunn
David Dunn - Executive Director, Texas Charter Schools Association
Shannon Edmonds - Director of Governmental Relations, Texas District and County Attorneys Association
Craig L. Estes - State Senator, R-Wichita Falls; Chair, Senate Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee
Andrea Ferrenz - Executive Vice President, Celltex Therapeutics
Deborah Fowler - Deputy Director, Texas Appleseed
Juliet V. García - President, University of Texas at Brownsville
Gene Garza - Director of Field Operations, Department Of Homeland Security/ U.S. Customs and Border Protection Laredo
Larry Gonzales - State Representative, R-Round Rock
Anthony Graves - Criminal justice advocate; Spent 18 years in prison, exonerated in 2010
Michael Griffiths - Executive Director, Texas Juvenile Justice Department
Kent Grusendorf - Former State Representative, R-Arlington; Former Chairman, House Public Education Committee
Maggie Haberman - Senior Political Writer, Politico
Bill Hammond - President and CEO, Texas Association of Business & Chambers of Commerce; Former State Representative, R-Dallas
Kent Hance - Chancellor, Texas Tech University System
Amy Hardberger - Attorney, Environmental Defense Fund
Rick Hardcastle - State Representative, R-Vernon, Chairman, House Agriculture & Livestock Committee
Rusty Hardin - Criminal defense attorney; Founder of Rusty Hardin & Associates, P.C.
Mike Heiligenstein - Executive Director, Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority
Carolyn Heinrich - Sid Richardson Professor of Public Affairs; Director, Center for Health and Social Policy, LBJ School of Public Affairs
Hendrik Hertzberg - Senior Editor and Staff Writer, The New Yorker
David Hinojosa - Regional Counsel, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
William Lee Hon - Criminal District Attorney, Polk County; President, Texas District and County Attorneys Association
Donna Howard - State Representative, D-Austin; Vice Chairwoman, House Administration Committee
Dan Huberty - State Representative, R-Houston
Joan Huffman - State Senator, R-Southside Place; Vice Chairwoman, Senate Criminal Justice Committee
Laura Huffman - Executive Director, Nature Conservancy of Texas
Bryan Hughes - State Representative, R-Mineola
Gwen Ifill - Moderator and Managing Editor, Washington Week; Senior Correspondent, PBS NewsHour
Lee Jackson - Chancellor, University of North Texas System
Kyle Janek - Executive Commissioner, Texas Health and Human Services Commission
James Keffer - State Representative, R-Eastland; Chairman, House Energy Resource Committee
Renu Khator - Chancellor, University of Houston System; President, University of Houston
Daniel King - Superintendent, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District
Lois Kolkhorst - State Representative, R-Brenham; Chairwoman, House Public Health Committee
Lyle Larson - State Representative, R-San Antonio
Marc Levin - Director, Center for Effective Justice, Texas Public Policy Foundation
Tryon Lewis - State Representative, R-Odessa; Vice-Chair, House Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence Committee
Ana Hernandez Luna - State Representative, D-Houston; Vice-Chair, House Elections Committee
Pat Lykos - District Attorney, Harris County
James Mann - Legal Adviser, Texas Pipeline Association
Marisa Marquez - State Representative, D-El Paso
Mike Martinez - Austin City Councilman; Capital Metro Board Member
Trey Martinez Fischer - State Representative, D-San Antonio; Vice-Chair, House State Sovereignty Committee
Julie Mason - Host, "Press Pool," SiriusXM's P.O.T.U.S.; Former White House Correspondent, Houston Chronicle
Brian McCall - Chancellor, Texas State University System
Debra Medina - Chairwoman, We Texans; former gubernatorial candidate
Michael Morton - Spent 25 years in prison; exonerated in 2011
Rebecca Motal - General Manager, Lower Colorado River Authority
Steve Murdock - Former Director of the U.S. Census Bureau; Former Texas State Demographer; Allyn and Gladys Cline Chair in Sociology at Rice University
Donna Nelson - Chairwoman, Public Utility Commission
Robert Nichols - State Senator, R-Jacksonville; Vice-Chair, Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee
John Nielsen-Gammon - Texas State Climatologist
Beto O'Rourke - Candidate for U.S. Congress; former El Paso city councilman
René Oliveira - State Representative, D-Brownsville; Chair, House Land & Resource Management
Jesse D. Oliver - Deputy Executive Director, DART; Former State Representative, D-Dallas
Dan Patrick - State Senator, R-Houston; Vice-Chair, Senate Education Committee
Jerry Patterson - Texas Land Commissioner
Tom Pauken - Chairman, Texas Workforce Commission
Nizam Peerwani - Commissioner, Texas Forensic Science Commission; Chief Medical Examiner, Tarrant County
Aaron Peña - State Representative, R-Edinburg
Nina Perales - Vice President of Litigation, MALDEF
Rick Perry - Governor of Texas
Larry Phillips - State Representative, R-Sherman; Chairman, House Transportation Committee
Joe Pickett - State Representative, D-El Paso; Chair, House Defense & Veterans' Affairs Committee
Joe Pojman - Executive Director, Texas Alliance for Life
Shirley A. Reed - President, South Texas College
Debbie Riddle - State Representative, R-Tomball
José Rodríguez - State Senator, D-El Paso
José R. Rodríguez - State Senator, D-El Paso
Esther Rodriguez Silva - Project Manager, Latin American Initiatives, Global Supply Chain Laboratory, Texas A&M University
Andy Sansom - Executive Director, River Systems Institute; Former Executive Director, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Robert Scott - Former Commissioner of Education
John Sedlak - Manager of Rail Passenger Research, Texas A&M Transportation Institute
John Sharp - Chancellor, Texas A&M University System
Billy Smith - Spent 19 years in prison; Exonerated in 2006
Carter Smith - Executive Director, Texas Parks and Wildlife
Burt Solomons - State Representative, R-Carrollton
Michael J. Sorrell - President, Paul Quinn College
Todd Staples - Texas Agriculture Commissioner
Bill Stevens - Government Relations Consultant, Texas Alliance of Energy Producers
Mark Strama - State Representative, D-Austin
Joe Straus - Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives; State Representative, R-San Antonio
Dan Stultz - President and Chief Executive Officer, Texas Hospital Association
Thomas Suehs - Former Executive Commissioner, Texas Health and Human Services Commission
David Thompson - Partner, Thompson & Horton
Raul Torres - R-Corpus Christi
Chris Traylor - Chief Deputy Commissioner, Texas Health and Human Services Commission
Joshua Treviño - Former Vice President for Communications at the Texas Public Policy Foundation
Leigh Turner - Associate Professor, Center for Bioethics & School of Public Health, University of Minnesota
Carlos Uresti - D-San Antonio; Vice Chair, Senate Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee
Leticia Van De Putte - State Senator, D-San Antonio; Chairwoman, House Veteran Affairs & Military Installations Committee
Craig Watkins - District Attorney, Dallas County
Kirk Watson - State Senator, D-Austin; Vice-Chair, Senate Transportation & Homeland Security Committee
Michael Webber - Associate Director, Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Texas at Austin
Royce West - State Senator, D-Dallas
Michael Williams - Commissioner of Education
Phil Wilson - Executive Director, Texas Department of Transportation
Arlene Wohlgemuth - Executive Director, Center for Health Care Policy, Texas Public Policy Foundation; Former State Representative, R-Burleson
Pat Wood - Former Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Former Chairman, Public Utility Commission of Texas
Paul Workman - State Representative, R-Travis County
Ana Yáñez-Correa - Executive Director, Texas Criminal Justice Coalition
Judith Zaffirini - State Senator, D-Laredo; Chairwoman, Senate Higher Education Committee
John Zerwas - State Representative, R-Simonton; Chair, House Select Committee on Federal Legislation

Confirmed as of 8/22