policy maker logo and trinity logo with headshots of four guests
Trinity Announces 2019-2020 Policy Maker Breakfast Guests
Speakers include Steve Forbes, Gen. Martin Dempsey, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, and Dan Heath

An American publishing executive, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a trailblazing journalist, and bestselling business author will headline the 2019-2020 Policy Maker Breakfast Series, held annually by Trinity University. 

The breakfasts and presentations will take place in the Grand Ballroom at the Omni Colonnade Hotel, 9821 Colonnade Blvd. Breakfast will be served at 7:30 a.m., and the program begins at 8 a.m. A question and answer session will follow.

Tickets for the Policy Maker Breakfast Series, which includes all four breakfasts, cost $170, and tickets for individual breakfasts are available for $50. For information or to register by phone, call Trinity University’s Office of Conferences and Special Programs at 210-999-7601, or visit the registration website. Advance registration is required.

Steve Forbes

Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019

The first guest is Steve Forbes, chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media, who will be presenting the topic “Navigating the Economy for Business Growth and Success.” Forbes’ latest project is the podcast “What’s Ahead,” where he engages the world’s top newsmakers, politicians, and pioneers in business and economics in honest conversations meant to challenge traditional conversations. He also helped create the recently-released public television documentary “In Money We Trust?” which was inspired by the book he co-authored, Money: How the Destruction of the Dollar Threatens the Global Economy—and What We Can Do About it. 

Forbes writes editorials for each issue of the magazine under the heading “Fact and Comment.” He is the only writer to have won the Crystal Owl Award, which is given by the U.S. Steel Corporation Corporation to the financial journalist whose economic forecasts for the coming year proved to be most accurate, four times. And, in 1996 and 2000, Forbes campaigned for the Republican nomination for the U.S. presidency. 

Retired Army Gen. Martin Dempsey

Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019

Gen. Martin Dempsey will speak on “America’s Role in the World Today: A Look at Globalization, the Diffusion of Technology, the Changing of Nature of Power, New Political Leadership, and Global Demographic Shifts.”

Dempsey recently retired from the U.S. Army after 41 years of service, which included service in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, accumulating 42 months in combat. During his time in military service he served as the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army and then as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during which time he was the senior officer in the U.S. Armed Forces and the military advisor to former President Barack Obama. 

In 2015, Dempsey was named one of the 100 most influential leaders in the world by TIME Magazine. In March of 2019, he was inducted into the Irish-American Hall of Fame, and in May he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. On October 17, 2016, Queen Elizabeth II made Dempsey an Honorary Knight of the British Empire. Dempsey is the chairman of USA Basketball and will lead USA basketball through the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera

Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, one of the first Hispanic female journalists on network news, will discuss “The Intersection of Economics, Policy, and Politics.” Caruso-Cabrera was also one of the first women in the field of economics and finance reporting. She began her career as a producer at Univision and later gravitated         to a role at CNBC at a time when the industry was dominated by men. 

In her 20 years at the network, Caruso-Cabrera has established herself as an authority in her field. She has reported from Iraq, Iran, Ukraine, Venezuela, and other world hotspots with a front-row seat to emerging geopolitical flashpoints, such as the Russia Ukraine conflict, and the ISIS invasion of Iraq. Her expertise, however, resides at the intersection of economics, policy, and politics where she can dissect major world events and translate the impact on global markets. 

In 2018, Caruso-Cabrera left her full-time post at CNBC and joined the board of The Beneficient Company, a financial services firm to pursue her interest in corporate governance and help companies shape their messaging. She remains a contributor to CNBC.

Dan Heath

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Dan Heath is a senior fellow at the Center for Social Entrepreneurship (CASE), a research and education center at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business that promotes the entrepreneurial pursuit of social impact through the thoughtful adaptation of business expertise. An entrepreneur himself, he founded Thinkwell, which develops educational multimedia for middle-school through college. Heath will cover the topic: “Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen.” 

Heath is also an author and co-wrote four business books in the past decade: Made to StickSwitchDecisive, and The Power of Moments, which explores why certain brief experiences can jolt, elevate, and change us—and how we can create these extraordinary moments in our life and work. 

In 2013, he was named to the “Thinkers 50” a ranking of the world’s 50 most influential management thinkers. He holds an MBA from Harvard and a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin. 

Carla Sierra is the public relations manager for Trinity University Strategic Communications and Marketing.

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