Fountain Hills Sister Cities organization will host the Arizona State Sister Cities conference on Saturday, April 30, in the Community Center.

Former Ambassador to Finland and 25th U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett will be the keynote speaker at 9:30 a.m. Saturday’s activities will begin with an 8 a.m. meeting of the state board of directors and breakfast in the Community Center. Mayor Ginny Dickey, Town Manager Grady Miller; Carol Carroll, past Fountain Hills Sister Cities president, and Richard Neuheisel, president of Arizona Sister Cities, will welcome guests at 9 a.m.

Barrett earned her Bachelor of Science, master’s and juris doctor degrees from Arizona State University. Barrett was founding chair of Valley Bank of Arizona, and partner at Evans, Mitchel and Jenckes, a Phoenix law firm. In 1994, she sought to become the first female Republican candidate for Governor of Arizona. She ran in the Republican primary against incumbent governor Fife Symington but failed to win her party’s nomination.

Barrett is a fellow teaching leadership at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. In 2012 Barrett was interim president of Thunderbird School of Global Management.

She is married to Craig Barrett, retired chairman and CEO of Intel. She climbed Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro in August 2007 and bicycled 900 kilometers throughout Finland while ambassador. An instrument-rated pilot, Barrett was the first civilian woman to land in an F/A-18 Hornet on an aircraft carrier.

Since its inception in 1956, Sister Cities International has worked to create global relationships based on cultural, educational, information and trade exchanges. Arizona Sister Cities fosters relationships with 49 partner communities around the world. Fountain Hills Sister Cities has ties to Dierdorf, Germany; Kasterlee, Belgium; Zamosc, Poland, and Ataco, El Salvador.

Arizona State University student Michal Suchanek will discuss the impact that Sister Cities has played on his life at 10:30 a.m. He is pursuing a diplomatic career after student exchange visits to Zamosc and Dierdorf.

Delegates will explore ideas to explore membership and creative social activities at 11 a.m. After the noon lunch, Honorary Consul of Canada in Arizona Glenn Williamson will speak about international diplomacy. He will be followed by a panel discussion by the state’s diplomatic corps on benefits from Sister Cities relationships. How to select a Sister Cities partner will be the topic at 3:10 p.m.

Project C.U.R.E., the world’s largest distributor of donated medical equipment and supplies to resource-limited communities across the globe, touching the lives of patients, families, and children in more than 135 countries, will be the focus at 4:10 p.m.

The conference is open to the public. The cost is $95 for the full-day event, which includes a breakfast bar, lunch and wrap-up event with appetizers and beverages. To register, visit fountainhillsaz.gov/scac.