The 2010 State of the Valley conference takes place Friday, February 12 in San Jose. KTEH public television and the San Jose Mercury News will be covering the event.

Paul Rogers from the SJ Merc will be interviewing:

• Former GOP five-time U.S. Congressman Tom Campbell from Silicon Valley is seeking his party's nomination to oppose Barbara Boxer for her U.S. Senate seat. He is the former dean of the University of California Haas School of Business and a member of the faculty of Stanford University for nineteen years.

• Emmet Carson is the founding CEO and president of Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Carson is responsible for providing the vision for one of the largest community foundations in the United States with assets of $1.7 billion.

• Richard Florida will be the keynote speaker at this year's State of the Valley and he will be addressing issues about creative leadership in the global economy. The author of the book The Rise of the Creative Class, Florida will share insight about technological advancement, demographic trends, and cultural and economic competitiveness.

• Russell Hancock serves as the president and CEO of the Joint Venture Silicon Valley's programs and initiatives. In 1995, Hancock served for five years as vice president of the Bay Area Council, where he led programs in transportation, housing, and air quality.

• Steve Poizner is a Republican candidate for governor of California. He was elected state insurance commissioner of California in 2006 and prior to politics worked in Silicon Valley as a high tech entrepreneur, founding Strategic Mapping, Inc., a company that pioneered technology to put GPS into cell phones.

Coverage will be posted on: www.kteh.org and www.mercurynews.com.

Info: Joint Venture - Silicon Valley Network