Julian Castro & Will Hurd's Biography

Julián Castro has distinguished himself as a strong leader and successful public servant for nearly two decades. A former Democratic candidate for President, Castro served as the 16th Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama from 2014 to 2017, and as mayor of San Antonio from 2009 to 2014. At HUD, Castro managed 8,000 employees and a budget of more than $46 billion, and he led progress at the Department that earned it recognition as one of the most improved federal agencies. Castro also co-chaired the United States delegation to the United Nations Habitat III conference, spearheaded efforts to reduce homelessness, and created Connect Home, a public-private partnership to deliver broadband to public housing residents.

Previously, as mayor of America’s seventh largest city, Castro brought a strong focus to expanding educational achievement and making San Antonio a leader in the 21st century global economy. Under Castro’s leadership, San Antonio implemented Pre-K4SA, a high quality early childhood learning initiative that has earned praise as one of America’s strongest public pre-kindergarten programs. During his tenure, San Antonio ranked first on the Milken Institute’s Best Performing Cities List, received an A+ grade for doing business by Forbes, and was the only Top 10 city at the time to achieve a Triple A bond rating with each of the three major ratings agencies.

A native Texan, Castro began his public service career in 2001, becoming, at the age of 26, San Antonio’s youngest city councilman in history at the time. Castro made history again in 2012, when he delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, the first Latino to do so.

Following his service in the Obama administration, Castro served as the Dean’s Distinguished Fellow and Fellow of the Davila Chair in International Trade Policy at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. Castro’s memoir, An Unlikely Journey: Waking Up From My American Dream was published by Little Brown in 2018.

Today, Castro serves on the board of directors of the LBJ Foundation and is a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. Castro serves as CEO of the Latino Community Foundation, the nation’s largest Latino-serving foundation. 

Castro received a B.A. from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He and his wife, Erica, have a daughter, Carina, and a son, Cristián. Castro’s twin brother, Joaquin, represents the 20th Congressional District of Texas.

Julian Castro & Will Hurd's Biography

The Honorable Will Hurd has had a dynamic career as an intelligence officer, cybersecurity professional, congressman, artificial intelligence policy pioneer, investment banker, presidential candidate, and C-suite executive. He currently serves as Chief Strategy Officer at defense technology firm CHAOS Industries and is the author of American Reboot: An Idealist Guide to Getting Big Things Done. Congressman Hurd is a member of the board at Icon Technologies, Personal.AI, the Center for European Policy Analysis, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

In his 20s, serving overseas in the CIA, Will prevented enemies from stealing our secrets, committing attacks on America, and smuggling dirty bombs into our country. In his 30s, at the strategic consulting firm Crumpton Group and cybersecurity firm FusionX, he helped defend critical infrastructure from sophisticated cyber threats. As a congressman, he worked to improve the quality of life for all Americans and safeguard our democratic institutions. In his 40s, through roles at Allen & Company (a New York investment bank), OpenAI (the makers of ChatGPT), and In-Q-Tel (the intelligence community’s venture capital firm), Will played a
leading role in shaping the intersection of technology, national security, and public policy. As a
presidential candidate, he introduced innovative artificial intelligence policies, border security
solutions, and strategies to compete with China.