Episode 543: America250 Chair Rosie Rios on Unity, Storytelling, and America's 250 Years

**SPEAKER_2** (0:12)
Welcome into another episode of Inside the ICE House Podcast. Today's guest is Rosie Rios, Chair of America 250 Rosie, thanks so much for joining us inside the ICE House. Thanks for having me.

**Rosie Rios** (0:24)
I am thrilled to be here. This vault is incredible, by the way.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:27)
It's made for you, a beautiful content studio. And we have a beautiful country to talk about, including of course, all the festivities as we head into July 4th. What is on the docket for America 250?

**Rosie Rios** (0:41)
It's happening. So yes, after eight years on this commission, four years as chair, getting to what I'm calling the last mile, although I kind of think about this as another phase of a journey. So it's not the end, it's the beginning. And certainly America 250 has been working on planning the 25th anniversary for quite some time.
So we're really excited. You know, we're about to turn the corner on July 4th. And I'm just thrilled to say that we are so happy to have New York play such a central role in all of this.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:10)
It's been wonderful to see it all come together. And we've been so happy to welcome you here at the New York Stock Exchange, of course, several times over the course of this year in 2026 You know, it's interesting. Obviously America is celebrating its 250th birthday this year, the NYSE marking its 234 years since its inception. So obviously two very storied histories that we have here and an evolution in many ways that has happened side by side with that connection. How does this partnership with the Stock Exchange help anchor the mission of America 250?

**Rosie Rios** (1:43)
Well, we couldn't be more proud of this partnership that we have with the NYSE. I mean, this is 234 years, but really, this is still the financial capital of the US here in New York. This is still the financial capital of the world. And so for us to really think about how to galvanize our country around the 250th, we came up with this phrase of 350 for 250
And what that means is we're engaging all 350 million Americans in this effort. And so the only way you're going to do that is by casting a broad net of participation. And so knowing that the heart of our country is also here in New York, knowing that there's so many stakeholders here in New York, and knowing that we want to be sea to shining sea, what better way to think about this than kind of thinking about our history and our financial history, but also thinking about this as much about the future as it is the past. So this whole innovation partnership that we have at NYSE could not be more appropriate.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:35)
I like how you mentioned 350 million Americans, of course, that this is going to touch over the course of the celebration. Diving a little bit deeper into what the NYSE stands for and how you're really driving that home with your mission with America 250, how have you seen those economic narratives come to life, ones like innovation, entrepreneurship and free markets?

**Rosie Rios** (2:57)
So for us, we really want to make sure more than anything that one of our priorities was to inspire this next generation of leadership. And so as we thought about our programming as a commission, which by the way is 24 members, all appointed by the House and Senate majority and minority leaders. So we are equally represented Democrats and Republicans. We are bipartisan, but I say all partisan, nonpartisan. Of these 24 commissioners, 16 are private citizens, eight of them are standing members of Congress. And so for us to really focus on what our programming is supposed to be, again, when I became chair, we made that decision to make it kind of this values-based programming and really thinking about, again, this inspiration for this next generation of leadership and why thinking about this as much about the future as it is the past was so important. And so one of the first programs that we did was America's Field Trip, which was sponsored by one of our first sponsors, BNY. They were absolutely amazing. And you know, they're a commercial bank, not a retail bank, but Robin Vince, whom I just adore, really understands the mission that we're trying to accomplish. And so they partner with us more for posterity's sake, understanding, again, the significance of what we're trying to accomplish. So for them to come in on America's Field Trip as kind of the first national signature program was really, really amazing. And this is a national student competition for grades three through 12, who get to answer the question, what does America mean to me? And in exchange, they get to choose from a series of backstage experiences, most of which have never been offered to the public before. So I'll give you a great example.