RootsTech 2026 has announced seven keynote speakers, three to speak at the in-person event and four to speak virtually.
The global family history gathering — themed “Together” and scheduled for March 5-7, with an in-person event in Salt Lake City and available in multiple languages online at RootsTech.org — will feature the following keynote speakers, according to a Jan. 5 news release.
In-person keynote speakers
- Steve Young, National Football League Hall of Famer and Super Bowl MVP, on Saturday, March 7.
- Marlee Matlin, Academy Award-winning actress and author, on Thursday, March 5.
- Tara Roberts, National Geographic explorer in residence, author and historian, on Friday, March 6.
Virtual keynote speakers
- Jessica Soho, award-winning Filipina broadcast journalist.
- José Hernández, Mexican American engineer and NASA astronaut.
- The Gardiner Brothers, award-winning Irish dancers.
- Zico, Brazilian football legend.
The virtual keynote addresses will be available on demand starting Feb. 13. Additionally, the full class schedule for RootsTech will be available starting Jan. 8.
About the in-person speakers
Steve Young
Athlete, philanthropist and author Steve Young is best known for his professional American football career from 1985 to 1999, according to the FamilySearch blog.
But he’s also “a great example of balancing success, notoriety and family connection,” said Jonathan Wing, director of RootsTech, in a news release. “He continues to use his influence to help instill hope in underserved communities and to promote physical, social and emotional wellness.”
After a promising high school football career, Young attended Brigham Young University, where he was a unanimous All-American and a runner-up for the Heisman Trophy, given annually to the most outstanding player in college football. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2001 for his accomplishments at BYU.
After college, Young joined the NFL and played mostly for the San Francisco 49ers. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005. He’s also a seven-time Pro Bowler and a three-time First-Team All-Pro and was named the NFL Most Valuable Player in 1992 and 1994. Additionally, Young is a three-time Super Bowl champion and was the Super Bowl MVP in 1995.
Marlee Matlin
Marlee Matlin is a Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated actress best known for her roles in popular TV shows like “The West Wing” and “Switched at Birth.”
She’s also the first deaf person to ever win an Academy Award, which she received in 1987 at age 21 for her role in “Children of a Lesser God.” The honor also made her the youngest woman to ever win Best Actress, a record she still holds.
Born and raised in Illinois, Matlin lost her hearing when she was 18 months old due to illness and high fevers.
At age 8, she was cast as Dorothy in a production of “The Wizard of Oz” at the International Center on Deafness and the Arts. Just a few years later, at age 12, she caught the attention of actor Henry Winkler when he saw her perform at an arts festival for deaf children.
Throughout her career, many of Matlin’s projects have highlighted the Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities, particularly through increased visibility in film and television.
Tara Roberts
Tara Roberts is a scuba diver, storyteller and National Geographic explorer in residence. Previously a communications director for a global nonprofit, she changed career trajectories when she learned about Diving With a Purpose: a nonprofit that explores sunken slave ships, recovers what artifacts they can and preserves the stories of lost passengers.
Becoming certified in scuba diving wasn’t an easy process — during a training dive near Sri Lanka, a fish even bit off the tip of one of Roberts’ fingers. But Roberts persevered, and now she assists historians and archaeologists in documenting shipwrecks and giving a voice to enslaved people who died during their ocean crossing.
It is estimated that more than 36,000 ships were part of the global trans-Atlantic slave trade, at least 500 of which sank during the voyage. Since 2005, Diving With a Purpose has discovered more than 18 shipwrecks with ties to four continents. Among the ships they have uncovered are the São José Paquete d’Africa and the Clotilda, the last known slave ship to arrive in America.
About the virtual speakers
Jessica Soho
Jessica Soho is an award-winning broadcast journalist and television host from the Philippines. Throughout her 40-year career, she’s won a New York Festival TV and Film Award, become the first Filipina to win the George Foster Peabody Award and received the Reader’s Digest Asia award for “Most Trusted TV Host for News and Current Affairs” for 13 consecutive years.
José Hernández
Born to Mexican migrant farmworkers, José Hernández grew up with dreams of being an astronaut. In 2009, that dream became a reality when he joined the historic STS-128 NASA Space Shuttle mission — making him the first NASA astronaut of Mexican American heritage to travel to space. He was also the first astronaut to send a tweet back to Earth in Spanish.
The Gardiner Brothers
Michael and Matthew Gardiner, better known as the Gardiner Brothers, are Irish dancers whose videos initially went viral during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, both boys danced from an early age and showed unusual talent for Irish dancing. In 2006, the Gardiner family relocated to Galway, Ireland, where the brothers competed individually at the Hession School of Irish Dance and were five-time World Champions in Irish dance.
In 2015, Michael Gardiner joined Riverdance — the famous Irish music and dance group that tours around the world — and Matthew Gardiner joined in 2017. They both danced with the company until 2024.
The brothers now live and create content in Nashville, Tennessee.
Zico
Brazilian football star Arthur Antunes Coimbra — better known as “Zico” — is “one of the greatest attacking midfielders of all time,” according to FamilySearch. The athlete got his first football lessons playing barefoot in the streets of his hometown, Rio de Janeiro. He later played for Flamengo and participated in three World Cups, and founded the Zico Football Center during his professional career from 1971 to 1994.
