Secretary of State John Kerry has named Siena alumnus and trustee Doug Hickey ’77 commissioner general for the United States’ exhibit at next year’s world’s fair.
Hickey will lead the American exhibit called USA Pavilion, which, according to its website, “will promote conversation and collaboration to strengthen bilateral ties between the United States and Europe and the rest of the global community to together tackle food-system issues and challenges.” Fellow Siena graduate Charles Faas '82 will serve as USA Pavilion's chief executive officer.
The world’s fair, called Expo Milano 2015, is expected to host 20 million people during its run from May 1 to October 31, 2015. Expo Milano’s theme is “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life,” marking the first time in history a world’s fair’s theme will be food. More than 140 countries are scheduled to participate.
Speaking from the White House’s Treaty Room, Kerry praised Hickey’s business acumen and vision as he introduced him. “Doug Hickey is a leader. He’s a calm, reliable, experienced business person,” Kerry said. “And he has always intuitively and instinctively been able to help define the future and be ahead of the curve, and he has gravitated towards innovation in business as much as anything, which really makes him the perfect person to try to shape America’s engagement next year at the Milan World Expo.”
Hickey majored in economics at Siena College before leading a successful career in the telecom and technology industries. He most recently served as managing director at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, a software venture capital firm.
“I’m especially excited about this Expo because it’s built around an issue of global importance: How do we feed 9-billion people by 2050 in a responsible and sustainable way? Coming from my background in the tech industry, which the Secretary talked about, I think our pavilion’s focus on innovation in the areas of food, nutrition and sustainability will spark an important conversation at the Expo about feeding the future,” Hickey said.
Hickey is a 2007 recipient of Siena’s Professor Joseph A. Buff Award for career achievement and is a member of Siena’s campaign committee. The Hickey Financial Technology Center was named for him in 2004.
