Women of Vision: Keynote Speaker & Master of Ceremonies

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON

Arianna Huffington Exclusively Represented by The Washington Speakers Bureau

Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, a nationally syndicated columnist, and author of 12 books. She is also co-host of Left, Right & Center, public radio’s popular political roundtable program.

In May 2005, she launched The Huffington Post, a news and blog site that has quickly become one of the most widely read, linked to, and frequently-cited media brands on the Internet.

In 2006, she was named to the Time 100, Time Magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people.

She was named Media Person of the Year for 2008 by I Want Media.

Originally from Greece, she moved to England when she was 16 and graduated from Cambridge University with an M.A. in economics. At 21, she became president of the famed debating society, the Cambridge Union.

Huffington is a prolific author:

• The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging, introduction by Arianna Huffington was published in 2008.
• Right Is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe tackles the imbalanced influence the right wing has on American politics over the last 40 years, and the role the mainstream media played in enabling it. Published in 2008.
• On Becoming Fearless….in Love, Work and Life is Huffington’s most personal book to date, offering a road map for achieving fearlessness in every aspect of life, a straight-to the-point manifesto on how to be bold, how to say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done in order to find the freedom to love, lead and succeed. Published in 2007.
• Fanatics and Fools: The Game Plan for Winning Back America offers a scathing portrait of our contemporary political landscape with a bold, inspiring and practical approach to restoring America to the promise envisioned by our greatest leaders. Published in 2004.
• Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption are Undermining America, a New York Times best seller, was published in 2003. An updated and expanded edition, drawing a line directly connecting the economic outrages of 2003 to the financial crisis we are facing today, was published in 2009.
• How to Overthrow the Government, on the corruption of our political system and the need for reform, was published in 2000.
• Greetings from the Lincoln Bedroom, a political satire, was published in 1998.
• The Fourth Instinct, on the longing for meaning in a secular world, was published in 1994.
• Picasso: Creator and Destroyer, a biography of Pablo Picasso was published in 1988. It was a major international bestseller, translated into 16 languages. The book was made into a film starring Anthony Hopkins as Picasso and produced by Merchant-Ivory for Warner Bros.
• The Gods of Greece celebrates the power of myths as guides to forgotten dimensions of life and ourselves. Atlantic Monthly Press republished it with paintings by Françoise Gilot.
• The Woman Behind the Legend, published in 1981, a biography of Maria Callas, quickly became an international best seller.
• After Reason, on political leadership and the intersection of politics and culture, was published in 1978.

Huffington has made guest appearances on numerous television shows, including Charlie Rose, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Nightline, Real Time with Bill Maher, Larry King Live, Good Morning America, the Today show, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, The Rachel Maddow Show and The O’Reilly Factor.

She also provides the voice for Arianna the Bear on Fox’s The Cleveland Show.

Arianna serves on several boards that promote community solutions to social problems, including A Place Called Home, which works with at-risk children in South Central Los Angeles. She also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Archer School for Girls. Arianna Huffington, the mother of two teenage daughters, lives in Los Angeles

Sal Pizarro

Sal has been the Around Town columnist for the Mercury News since 2005. He appears in the newspaper six times a week, covering Silicon Valley community events and newsmakers from Palo Alto to Gilroy. A native of San Jose, Sal received a bachelor’s degree from the University of California-Santa Barbara. Since 1993, he’s had a variety of roles at the Mercury News, including a stint as high school sports editor, during which he discovered a love for community-oriented news. He is a member of the Rotary Club of San Jose and serves on the community advisory board for Silicon Valley Reads. Sal lives in San Jose with his wife, Amy, their daughter, Mia, and little dog Chickenbone.