On today’s special episode of the Beehive Podcast, we talk to U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT). Now in his seventh term representing Utah on the national stage, Hatch is also the most senior Republican in the U.S. Senate. Hatch is currently the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance. He is also a member (and former Chairman) of the Judiciary Committee; a member (and former Chairman) of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee; and a member of the Joint Committee on Taxation. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

If you’ve lived in Utah for any amount of time, you know Sen. Hatch. What you may not know is the work he’s done for Utah’s startup and tech community over the years. He’s the reason folks like Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and, this Friday, Apple CEO Tim Cook come to Utah to speak and engage with our community every year. He’s been instrumental in getting a number of high-profile tech companies to open headquarters in Utah, and has always been an advocate and friend to Utah’s startup and tech community.

As mentioned, this Friday, Sen. Hatch is bringing Apple CEO Tim Cook to Utah for UTC’s Hall of Fame dinner. Hatch is also doing an event and having a conversation on stage with Cook right before that dinner that’s free and open to the public. Domo CEO Josh James, Qualtrics CEO Ryan Smith, Pluralsight CEO Aaron Skonnard, Vivint CEO Todd Pedersen, and Women Tech Council President and founder Cydni Tetro will also be speaking briefly at that event. For more details and tickets visit UtahTechTour.com.

It was fun to catch-up and speak with Sen. Hatch leading up to this event about a number of issues. Enjoy the show!