Siena College will confer 785 degrees this Sunday, May 15, at its 2016 commencement ceremony beginning at 10 a.m. at the Times Union Center in Albany.
The graduating class represents 30 undergraduate majors and one graduate major (Master’s of Science in Accounting).
The keynote speaker will be Ambassador Douglas T. Hickey, a 1977 alumnus and the United States Commissioner General at the 2015 World’s Fair in Milan, Italy, appointed by President Barack Obama.
Ambassador Hickey led the USA Pavilion at “Expo Milano,” showcasing America’s food security initiatives and leading the global conversation to address the challenges of feeding a worldwide population expected to grow more than 25 percent to 9 billion people by 2050.
Prior to his appointment in Italy, Ambassador Hickey was President and CEO of San Francisco-based BinWise Inc., the leading provider of analytics to premier restaurant, hotel and entertainment groups around the world. He has more than 30 years of operational experience holding senior-level positions in the telecom, Internet and technology industries. He was Managing Director of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, one of Silicon Valley’s leading venture capital firms, for more than 10 years.
Ambassador Hickey has brought credit to himself and Siena through 40 years of service to the College, through his tireless work on behalf of the poor in the Catholic Diocese of San Francisco, to his professional career as an innovator in the field of telecommunications and financial management, and through his civic leadership culminating in his appointment by President Obama as Commissioner General.
In 2001, he joined the Siena College Board of Trustees and served on all of the Board’s committees over the ensuing nine years. In 2007, he was awarded the College’s prestigious Professor Joseph A. Buff Award for outstanding career achievement.
Recognized as a “Builder of Siena,” he became one of the principal donors to the College’s Values and Visions Capital Campaign in 2000 by creating the Douglas T. Hickey Chair in Business, the College’s first and only academic chair in its School of Business. His philanthropy to Siena includes making the lead gift to the Douglas T. Hickey Technology Center, home of the Will Raub Trading Room. He received his B.S. in Economics from Siena in 1977.
In recognition of his lifetime of exemplary achievement, leadership, and service in the public, private, and non-profit sectors of our society, Siena College awards Douglas T. Hickey the honorary degree, Doctor of Humanities.
The commencement will be streamed live online at http://commencementfeed.siena.edu/.
