Tom Tom announced today that news icon Dan Rather will speak at the seventh annual Tom Tom Founders Festival, offering a keynote address at 8pm on Thursday, April 12 at the Paramount Theater in downtown Charlottesville, VA. Rather, whose storied career includes 24 years as anchor of the CBS Evening News, has captured the fascination of a new generation with a Facebook page followed by millions. His talk will cover themes of his recent book, What Unites Us, a meditation on patriotism and what it means to be American in a contentious era. This event is exclusive to Tom Tom Summit badge holders. Summit badges are available at www.tomtomfest.com/tickets. Individual tickets will be on sale in March.
“Mr. Rather is one of the most revered reporters in American journalism, and we are incredibly honored to have him join us this April, ” said Paul Beyer, Founder and Executive Director of Tom Tom. “The events of August 12 have put Charlottesville in the national conversation of fake news and free speech, and our ongoing divisions in race and reconciliation. As a journalist who covered the civil rights movement and some of the most divisive episodes in contemporary history, we know Mr. Rather will offer trenchant insights to the Charlottesville community and to our national attendees.”
Dan Rather’s commitment to investigative reporting and composure in moments of triumph and tragedy have made him a respected voice that millions of people trust to make sense of a complicated world. Building upon that foundation, he is president and CEO of News and Guts, an independent production company he founded that specializes in high-quality nonfiction content across a range of traditional and new channels.
Rather will be joined by hundreds of other speakers at the Festival, including James Fallows, International Bureau Chief of The Atlantic; MacArthur Genius Greg Asbed; The New York Times bestseller Elisabeth Rosenthal; Honest Tea Cofounder Seth Goldman; Obama White House Advisor Melody Barnes; two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Amy Goldstein; Aspen Institute Vice President and 8-term Congressman Mickey Edwards; Wired Editor Garrett Graff; IDEO’s Peter Jackson; National League of Cities’ Brooks Rainwater; Buzzfeed Senior Editor Anne Helen Peterson; Ambassador Mark Brzezinski; Weapons of Math Destruction author Cathy O’Neil; Civic Nation Director Jenn Brown; founder and author Renee Diresta; Meow Wolf CEO Vince Kadlubek and many others from MIT, Harper’s Bazaar, CityLab, Governing Magazine, NPR, Slate, The New York Times, and more.