Newswise — Deborah Bial, President and Founder of The Posse Foundation, Myles Brand, President, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and Thomas T. Stallkamp, Chairman, Babson Board of Trustees, and Industrial Partner, Ripplewood Holdings LLC, will be speakers at the 2008 Babson College Commencement ceremonies.
The 89th awarding of B.S. degrees for Babson College and the 56th awarding of MBA degrees for the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson will take place during commencement exercises, Saturday, May 17, 2008, on the Wellesley campus. Undergraduate Ceremony Honorary Degree Recipients and Speakers: Deborah Bial " President and Founder, The Posse FoundationDeborah Bial is an education strategist who addresses the challenges of college access for underrepresented populations by identifying and fostering latent talent and opening opportunities for them to pursue higher education. Traditional admissions metrics such as grade point average, class rank, and entrance exam scores have long been recognized as inadequate predictors of success for some undergraduates. Bial founded The Posse Foundation, which offers an alternative model for identifying promising young people from less advantaged, urban environments. Working with public high schools and other community organizations, she evaluates potential candidates using a rigorous assessment process based on qualities such as leadership, teamwork, communication skills, and motivation " qualities that are as critical to successful navigation of undergraduate education as academic track records. She develops partnerships with admissions officials from dozens of highly selective liberal arts colleges and universities, offering a powerful means to augment the cultural and economic diversity of their institutions. Today, 90 percent of "Posse" students graduate, a rate significantly higher than the national average. In September 2007, Bial was a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation $500,000 "Genius Awards" -- a five-year grant given to individuals who show exceptional creativity in their work and the prospect for still more in the future. Bial received a B.A. (1987) from Brandeis University and an M.A. (1996) and Ed.D. (2004) from Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. She has served as president of The Posse Foundation since 1989, and she is also a founding partner of the consulting company Firefly Education LLC. Myles Brand " President, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)Myles Brand assumed his duties as president of the NCAA on January 1, 2003. He is the fourth chief executive officer of the Association. During his presidency, Brand has presided over the passage of the most comprehensive academic reform package for intercollegiate athletics in recent history - a package that refocuses the attention of student-athletes, coaches and administrators on the education of student-athletes. Brand has also changed the national dialog on college sports to emphasize the educational value of athletics participation and the integration of intercollegiate athletics with the academic mission of higher education. Brand was himself president of two major universities -- from 1994 through 2002, he was president of Indiana University; from 1989 to 1994, he served as president at the University of Oregon. Brand earned his BS in philosophy from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1964, and his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Rochester in 1967. Graduate Ceremony Speaker: Thomas T. Stallkamp " Chairman, Babson Board of Trustees; Ripplewood Holdings LLC Tom Stallkamp is an industrial partner in Ripplewood Holdings LLC, a private equity firm in New York. He is also the founder and principal of Collaborative Management LLC, a private consulting firm specializing in implementing changes to business practices. Prior to founding Collaborative Management, Stallkamp was CEO and chairman of MSX International, a global provider of collaborative enterprise services. Previously, he was a vice chairman of DaimlerChrysler Corporation, and served as its president and a member of its board of management from 1998-1999. From 1990 to 1997, Stallkamp was an Executive Vice President with Chrysler Corporation, and then became its President in 1997. Stallkamp serves on the boards of Baxter International and Honsel International Technologies. He has been an adjunct professor in Babson's F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business. Stallkamp earned a bachelor's degree in industrial management and economics and a master's degree in business administration from Miami University (Ohio), and received honorary doctorates from Georgetown University and Miami University. Honorary Degree Recipients: Roseanna H. Means, MD " Founder, Women of Means, Inc.Roseanna Means founded Women of Means in 1999 "to improve the lives of women who are homeless or marginally housed through quality health care, education and advocacy." From 1990-1998, Means, a practicing internist in the Boston area, worked for a program that operates health clinics for the homeless. She observed that homeless women were underrepresented at the clinics and learned that using traditional health care access venues, even when staffed by doctors trained in caring for the homeless, is overwhelming for women impaired by exhaustion, mental illness and fear. Consequently Means founded Women of Means, sending volunteer physicians into shelters to provide care where the women feel safest. Today, a team of over 20 volunteer and paid medical professionals work to: improve immediate access to health care for the Commonwealth's poorest women and children, provide medical supplies and equipment to health care professionals and shelter staff treating indigent populations, share Women of Means alternative medical delivery model with other health care professionals, and advocate for the women at clinical, social justice, academic and health policy levels. Means received a BS (1976) and a MSc (1977) from MIT and an MD (1981) from Tufts University School of Medicine. Oleg V. Zherebtsov " Chairman & CEO of the Group of Companies LENTAOleg V. Zherebtsov founded Lenta in 1993, and currently serves as chairman of Lenta's board of directors. From 1993 to 2003, Zherebtsov was CEO of the Lenta Company, and has been chairman of the board of directors from November 2003 to present day. Lenta is one of the leading hypermarket chains in St. Petersburg, Russia. Today Lenta operates 26 stores in three regions in Russia—the Northwest, Siberia, and Volga areas. Nine complexes also are under construction throughout the country. Lenta prides itself in being a price leader, providing customers with high quality goods, a large selection, and the lowest prices on the market. The company's mission is help customers live a better life by spending less. Lenta's headquarters are located in St. Petersburg, the Northwest region of Russia. Zherebtsov supports three initiatives at Babson. He meets directly with undergraduate students in Professor Bill Coyle's Russia courses, promotes collaborative case writing on Russian companies by professors from Babson and St. Petersburg State University, and funds a term chair held by Professor Coyle.
RSS