MBA Advisor: Business Royalty Among Top MBA Graduation Speakers

Carlos Brito, CEO of Anheuser Busch InBev, will be the graduation speaker at Stanford GSB on June 16th.

Been there, done that.

Who’d blame MBAs for feeling that way about graduation? They’re adults now. Chances are, they don’t need the keys to the family Chevy as a reward. In reality, graduation day rarely gets old for MBA – not after what they’ve been though. In high school and college, graduation was a nod to the parents – whose stamina and sacrifice made this moment happen. For MBAs, graduation celebrates themselves – the risks they’ve taken, the hurdles they’ve crossed, the communities they’ve built, and the transformations they’ve shared.

Like any commencement, the ceremony is a rite of passage. The ritual, replete with processions and gowns, harkens back to past graduates. It is a timeless nod that students have moved into the professional ranks. That’s one reason why schools recruit guest speakers. They are the bridge between the academic and the commercial – savvy practitioners and spirited muses who remind graduates of their responsibilities as they herald tomorrow’s promise.

MASSACHUSETTTS GOVERNOR COMES HOME TO EVANSTON

Want to know how much juice a business school carries? Look no further than the caliber of their graduation speaker. This year, you could argue that “homecoming” is a theme across many of the leading business schools. Rather than trotting out big name CEOs and authors – and doling out the requisite “honorary degree,” MBA programs are inviting their alumni to speak. It is an act that connects generations and reinforces values – a validation that the formula works if MBAs apply it long enough.

Massachusetts Governor (and Kellogg alum) Charlie Baker

Take Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. On June 22nd, they will be welcoming home Charlie Baker, a 1986 MBA who was elected as Massachusetts Governor in 2014. Over his career, Baker has jumped between the public and private sector. As a CEO at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates and Pilgrim Health Care, he paired a sharp financial scalpel with a welcoming leadership style to balance profit with compassion. At the same time, his stewardship of the state’s Health and Human Services department helped lay the groundwork for Massachusetts’ universal healthcare system in the 1990s. Now, he ranks among the nation’s most popular governors with a 69% approval rate in January according to Morning Consult. Even more, he has racked up an impressive list of accomplishments, including major cuts in both homelessness and the state budget deficit.

Married to a fellow Kellogg MBA, Baker is expected to tout the value of Kellogg’s team-driven culture in his speech. “The most important thing I learned at Kellogg is that it’s all about the team,” Baker notes in his alumni profile. “It was drilled into your brain from the way that your classes were set up or grades were handed out. No one fails or succeeds on their own; you succeed or fail as part of a team. The sooner you figure that out, the more likely you are to be successful.”

TOP PROGRAMS SHOW REACH AND INFLUENCE IN SPEAKER CHOICES

That’s just the start! Palo Alto may be home to some stellar wineries, but the Stanford GSB’s diploma ceremony is reserved for the King of Beers. There, the Class of 2018 will be treated to Carlos Brito (’89) – or “Brito” as he prefers to be called. The CEO of Anheuser-Busch InBev, Brito is a regular at the school and his speech is almost certain to touch on themes that make Stanford great: the value of pushing boundaries and embracing self-discovery and change. They are GSB tenets that Brito has deeply embedded into his own leadership philosophy.

“Every year we look at the top talents and we say, OK, are they stretched, are they getting too comfortable,” he explains in a 2015 interview with the Financial Times. “ [If they are] it’s time for us to start taking people more often out of their comfort zones…Let’s shake the tree and get people to feel underdogs again and [feel] that crunch, that ‘Oh my God, I have to learn this, I’m excited, this is new!’”

Baker and Brito aren’t the only heavy-hitting alums to grace the stage this spring. At Harvard Business School, Carla Harris (’87), vice chairman and managing director at Morgan Stanley, will headline Harvard Business School’s Class Day celebration. Across town, billionaire Lorenzo Mendoza (’93), the CEO of Empresas Polar – Venezuela’s largest privately-owned firm – will deliver the keynote for MIT Sloan’s graduating class.

Instagram COO Marne Levine

SENATORS, CEOs AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS AMONG TOP SPEAKERS

Looking for an inspirational story? Head to Minneapolis to hear Marcia Page (’83), the founder and executive chair of Värde Partners who’ll be speaking at the Carlson School’s May 14th graduation. Over the past 25 years, the firm has invested over $55 billion dollars and grown to 13 sites globally. Page isn’t the only feel-good homecoming stories. Notably, Paul Rice (’98), a four-time winner of Fast Company’s Social Capitalist of the Year Award, will speak at Haas during their May 18th commencement.

Alas, you’ll find non-alumni among the business luminaries landing the most coveted speaking spots. At Tuck, David Rubenstein, co-founder of the Carlyle Group, will deliver the investiture address at Tuck on June 9th. Not to be outdone, Columbia Business School has enlisted Senator Ron Wyden to speak at graduation, with Kevin Plank, Chairman and CEO of Under Armour, enjoying the honors at Fuqua. Not to be outdone, Wharton’s MBAs will be treated to Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Chobani. As always, the Ross School of Business kicks off the graduation season on April 27th. Their speaker? It is none other than Marne Levine, the COO of Instagram.

This year even features a dose of controversy. On May 19th, the Kenan-Flagler Business School graduation will launch the image rehab of John Skipper, who resigned as President of ESPN last December after facing an extortion attempt over cocaine usage.

HILLARY CLINTON RETURNS TO YALE

That said, some programs by-pass prestige speakers in favor of more intimate, student-centered ceremonies. Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, for one, could easily attract the crème-de-la-crème of business royalty. Instead, it chooses internal community members to deliver addresses – a tradition that applies to MBA programs at the University of Virginia (Darden), Arizona State (W. P. Carey), Michigan State (Broad), and Georgia Tech (Scheller).

At other programs, MBAs can walk alongside other graduate and undergraduate students in an all-school ceremony. This year, Michael Bloomberg will do the honors at Rice University. At Emory, the honor falls to Michael Dubin, co-founder and CEO of Dollar Shave Club. Then, there is the biggest name of all: Hillary Rodham Clinton. She will serve as Yale University’s Class Day speaker on May 20th.

Who is speaking at your school? Where can you go for information on hotels, parking, and schedules for these ceremonies? Check out our commencement list on the next pages for everything you need to watch or join these events.

University of Michigan (Ross)

Graduation Date: April 27, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Marne Levine, COO of Instagram

Graduation Information: Ross Commencement 2018

Go to next page for details on Indiana, Vanderbilt, and USC

Owen alum and Emerson CEO David Farr will speak at Vanderbilt Owen’s commencement on May 11th.

Indiana University (Kelley)

Graduation Date: May 4, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Maurice Markey (’94), CEO and Founder of Windfarm LLC

Graduation Information: Website still in development. To see the live broadcast, click here.

The Kelley MBA ceremony will be held at 9 a.m. on Friday, May 4, 2018 at the IU Auditorium, with a reception to follow at the William Godfrey Graduate and Executive Education Center. The all-school ceremony takes place on May 4th at 3 p.m. John Hennessy, executive chairman of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, and president emeritus of Stanford University, will speak and receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. To learn more about that ceremony, click here.

Georgia Tech (Scheller)

Graduation Date: May 4, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Valerie Montgomery Rice, President and Dean of the Morehouse School of Medicine

Graduation Information: 2018 Georgia Tech Commencement

Scheller MBA graduates participate in the Master’s ceremony, which is held separately from the undergraduate and Ph.D. ceremonies. For additional details, click here.

Michigan State (Broad)

Graduation Date: May 4, 2018

Graduation Speaker: None

Graduation Information: Advanced Degree Ceremony

MBA students hold a private ceremony, but the ceremony is part of the larger graduate program.

Ohio State University (Fisher)

Graduation Date: May 5, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Sander Flaum, Principal of Flaum Navigators

Graduation Information: 2018 Fisher Masters Graduation Ceremony

The all-school ceremony kicks off at noon on May 6. The speaker will be Sue Desmond-Hellmann, the CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. To learn more, click here.

Arizona State (W. P. Carey)

Graduation Date: May 10, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Kohinoor Gill (Student)

Graduation Information: 2018 Carey Business Graduate Convocation

The main graduate convocation takes place on May 7 at 9:00 am. The speaker will be Michael Crow, President of Arizona State University.

USC (Marshall)

Graduation Date: May 11, 2018

Graduation Speaker: To Be Announced

Graduation Information: Marshall School of Business Graduate Ceremony

The school-wide commencement will be held on the morning of the 11th, with Dr. Siddhartha Mukerjee the speaker. To learn more, click here.

Vanderbilt University (Owen)

Graduation Date: May 11, 2018

Graduation Speaker: David Farr (MBA’81), CEO of Emerson and Board Chair of the National Association of Manufacturers

Graduation Information: Owen Commencement 2018

Go to next page for details on Duke, Wharton, Columbia, U.C.-Berkeley and New York University.

Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and Co-Founder of Ellevest. will speak at NYU Stern’s convocation on May 18th.

Rice University (Jones)

Graduation Date: May 11, 2018

Graduation Speaker: None

Graduation Information: 2018 Jones GSB Investiture

Full Commencement: Graduate students are also invited to walk in Rice’s full commencement ceremony on May 12th, where the speaker will be Michael Bloomberg. To learn more about these ceremonies, click here.

Duke University (Fuqua)

Graduation Date: May 12, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Kevin Plank, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Under Armour

Graduation Information: 2018 Daytime MBA Graduation Ceremony

University of Wisconsin

Graduation Date: May 12, 2018

Graduation Speaker: David Muir, ABC News

Graduation Information: 2018 University of Wisconsin Spring Commencement

Wharton School (Penn)

Graduation Date: May 13, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Chobani

Graduation Information: Wharton 2018 Graduation

The San Francisco MBA for Executives ceremony, which will be held on May 5th, features Oracle CEO Safra Catz as the speaker. The Philadelphia MBA for Executives ceremony, which takes places on May 12, will be addressed by Vanguard Chairman F. William McNabb III.

Columbia Business School

Graduation Date: May 13, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Senator Ron Wyden

Graduation Information: 2018 Columbia Business School Recognition

Emory University (Goizueta)

Graduation Date: May 14, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Michael Dubin, Co-Founder and CEO of Dollar Shave Club

Graduation Information: 2018 Emory University Commencement

Emory holds its all-school graduation on May 14th at 9:00 a.m. Goizueta will then hold its own ceremony at 12:30 p.m. at the George W. Woodruff Physical Education Center. To learn more, click here.

University of Minnesota (Carlson)

Graduation Date: May 14, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Marcia Page (’83), Executive Chair of Värde Partners

Graduation Information: 2018 Carlson Graduation

New York University (Stern)

Graduation Date: May 18, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and Co-Founder of Ellevest and Chair of Ellevate Network

Graduation Information: 2018 NYU Stern Graduate Convocation

U.C.-Berkeley (Haas)

Graduation Date: May 18, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Paul Rice (’96), President and CEO of Fair Trade USA

Graduation Information: 2018 Haas Commencement

Go to next page for details on Harvard Business School, Yale, Virginia and Notre Dame.

Morgan Stanley’s Carla Harris will be the main speaker at this year’s Class Day at Harvard Business School

University of Texas (McCombs)

Graduation Date: May 19 2018

Graduation Speaker: To Be Announced

Graduation Information: 2018 Texas MBA Convocation

Washington University (Olin)

Graduation Date: May 18, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Sandeep Chugani (’91), Senior Partner and Managing Director at Boston Consulting Group

Graduation Information: 2018 Olin Graduate Diploma and Awards Ceremony

Georgetown University (McDonough)

Graduation Date: May 18, 2018

Graduation Speaker: To Be Announced

Graduation Information: 2018 McDonough Commencement

North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)

Graduation Date: May 19, 2018

Graduation Speaker: John Skipper, Former President of ESPN

Graduation Information: 2018 Kenan-Flagler MBA Graduation

MBAs can also participate in the full school graduation, which will be held on May 13th. Rye Barcott, a social entrepreneur, , will be the featured speaker. To learn about this ceremony, click here.

Notre Dame (Mendoza)

Graduation Date: May 19, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Bill Goodyear, Retired Chairman and CEO of Navigant Consulting

Graduation Information: 2018 Notre Dame Commencement Weekend

Notre Dame’s university commencement ceremony will be held on May 20th. The keynote speakers will be Judge Sérgio Moro and Sister Norma Pimentel.

Babson College

Graduation Date: May 19, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Linda Rottenberg, Co-Founder and CEO of Endeavor

Graduation Information: 2018 Commencement Ceremony

Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)

Graduation Date: May 19, 2018

Graduation Speaker: David Simmons, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pharmaceutical Product Development

Graduation Information: 2018 Carnegie Mellon Graduate Business Diploma Ceremony

The all-school commencement will also take place on May 20th, with David Tepper (’82 MBA) delivering the keynote address.

University of Virginia (Darden)

Graduation Date: May 20, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Dean Scott Beardsley and elected students

Graduation Information: 2018 Darden Graduation Basics

Yale School of Management

Graduation Date: May 21, 2018

Graduation Speaker: School will be announcing a special speaker for its Class Day shortly.

Graduation Information: Yale SOM Diploma Ceremony

Former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the speaker at Yale Commencement. For more details, click here.

Harvard Business School

Graduation Date: May 23, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Carla Harris (’87), Vice Chairman of Morgan Stanley

Graduation Information: 2018 HBS Class Day Celebration

Go to next page for details on Northwestern, Stanford, University of Chicago, Cornell, MIT and Dartmouth.

David Rubenstein, co-founder of the Carlyle Group, will speak at Tuck’s Class of 2018 Investiture on June 9th.

Cornell University (Johnson)

Graduation Date: May 26, 2018

Graduation Speaker: No speaker.

Graduation Information: 2018 Cornell MBA Commencement

MIT (Sloan)

Graduation Date: June 7, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Lorenzo Mendoza (’93), CEO of Empresas Polar

Graduation Information: 2018 MIT Sloan Convocation

The all-school commencement will be held on June 8th, with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg being the speaker. To learn more about this ceremony, click here.

University of Chicago (Booth)

Graduation Date: June 9, 2018

Graduation Speaker: Professor Richard Thaler and Richard Wallman (’74) and Amy Wallman (’75). The former is a former senior VP at Honeywell International and the latter is a former EY partner and former director at Omnicare.

Graduation Information: 2018 Booth Day