Former Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb to keynote rescheduled CSU Water in the West Symposium

Contact for reporters:
Tiana Nelson
(970) 420-3316
Christiana.Nelson@colostate.edu

Note to media: Media passes are available for this event, please email christiana.nelson@colostate.edu for access. Speaker access may also be available in advance of or during the event.

Denver, Colo. – Walter Robb, food entrepreneur and former co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, will keynote the Water in the West Symposium in the Denver area. Colorado State University System will host the annual Symposium at the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center on November 6 and 7. The Symposium was rescheduled from its original dates in March due to weather and speaker flight cancellations.

Robb joined Whole Foods in 1991 and was named co-CEO in 2010. After the sale of Whole Foods to Amazon in 2017, Robb created Stonewall Robb Advisors to provide mentorship and support for the next generation of entrepreneurs.

“Walter Robb, with a lifetime of experience, understands the ever-evolving importance to producers, processors, retailers, and especially consumers of supporting sustainable practices in food,” said former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

Robb also serves on the board of directors for several companies focused on minimizing food waste, including FoodMaven and Apeel Sciences, and according to Vilsack, “has witnessed sustainable solutions used around the world and the market forces demanding them.”

“We are now in a new era of food and agriculture,” said Robb. “This era is guided by the customer and affects every part of the value chain – from seed, to farm, to table. The availability and the use of water is a key part of this new era; both a challenge and an opportunity.”

More than 20 speakers are confirmed for the Symposium, representing a cross-section of industries including recreation, business, agriculture, utilities, and research. The Symposium is an initial offering of the CSU Water Building, one of three buildings that will comprise the future CSU Campus at the National Western Center. The inaugural event sold out in 2018.

A full list of speakers, additional event information, and registration is available at nwc.colostate.edu/water-in-the-west-2019.

Registration closes October 31. 

About Colorado State University System

Colorado State University System is comprised of three distinct universities: CSU, a leading public research university and the state’s only land-grant institution, located in Fort Collins; CSU-Pueblo, a regional-serving campus and federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institution; and CSU Global, the nation’s first fully accredited online university. CSU System institutions serve nearly 60,000 students annually. Learn more about CSU System and its institutions, projects, and partnerships at csusystem.edu.