PayPal CEO Dan Schulman ’80 to give Middlebury Commencement address May 29

Vermont Enterprise Journal Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal, the digital fee companies firm, will ship the 2022 Middlebury School Graduation handle on Sunday, Could 29, 2022. One of many nation’s main CEOs, Schulman has advocated for corporations to assist form society for the higher by sharing their monetary success with their workers. He’s additionally widely known for his dedication to social change and his ardour for fairness, justice, and primary human rights.

Schulman, a 1980 graduate of Middlebury, is working to democratize and remodel monetary companies and e-commerce to enhance the monetary well being of individuals, households, and companies around the globe. With greater than 426 million people and companies utilizing PayPal, Schulman has helped develop and strengthen the corporate since his arrival in 2014.

Underneath Schulman’s management, PayPal has acquired recognition for its efforts to construct a extra inclusive office. It’s ranked sixth on the 2022 checklist of America’s Most JUST Corporations and was additionally included in Human Rights Marketing campaign’s 2022 Greatest Locations to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality and the 2021 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index. PayPal’s efforts to supply extra monetary safety for a better variety of folks embody adjustments that influence the corporate’s personal workers, demonstrated by means of the Monetary Wellness Initiative launched in 2019. This system elevated wages, lowered the price of healthcare advantages, and made all workers shareholders of the firm. 

“Dan Schulman is setting an instance for company America by demonstrating that the personal sector is usually a power for constructive change,” stated Middlebury president Laurie Patton. “He has received quite a few awards for his creativity, entrepreneurship, and management expertise. We’re wanting ahead to listening to the knowledge he’ll share with our graduates.” 

Schulman’s many honors embody the New York City League’s 2021 Frederick Douglass Award, in recognition of his dedication, dedication, and affect to advance the rights of generations of underserved Black Individuals. He additionally acquired the 2021 Voices of Solidarity Award, offered by Important Voices, for advocating on behalf of ladies and women around the globe. In 2021, he was ranked third on Fortune’s checklist of the World’s Biggest Leaders, an honor that acknowledged people for his or her management all through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Schulman beforehand served in senior management roles at American Categorical and Dash Nextel Company following its acquisition of Virgin Cellular USA, the place he led the corporate as its founding CEO for eight years. Earlier in his profession, he was president and CEO of Priceline Group, and he spent 18 years at AT&T. Schulman serves on the boards of a variety of organizations, together with the Enterprise Roundtable. He’s additionally a life member of the Council on International Relations.

Along with his BA from Middlebury School, Schulman earned an MBA from New York College’s Leonard N. Stern College of Enterprise. 

Schulman will obtain an honorary Physician of Letters on the Graduation ceremony. 

Extra details about the 2 extra honorary diploma recipients follows:

Joseph Bruchac

Joseph Bruchac is a citizen of the Nulhegan Abenaki Nation, revered elder, writer, poet, musician, storyteller, speaker, and advocate for equality, peace, and social justice. Bruchac is the writer of greater than 170 books in quite a few genres. His poems, fiction, and essays have appeared in tons of of publications from American Poetry Overview to Nationwide Geographic. His books for younger readers, which regularly give attention to Native American historical past and tradition, might be present in just about each college library. He coauthored the groundbreaking quantity Keepers of the Earth, which teaches science by means of Native American tales and has bought greater than one million copies. Along with his sons, Jesse and James, he’s additionally the director of the Ndakinna Training Heart, which provides applications in conventional Native survival expertise, outside consciousness, storytelling, and Abenaki language within the foothills of the Adirondacks. In 1970, along with his late spouse Carol, he cofounded the Greenfield Overview Press, an early multicultural writer whose works embody main Native American authors. The recipient of quite a few fellowships and awards, Bruchac earned a BA in English from Cornell College, MA in English from Syracuse College, and PhD from Union Institute.

Nan Jenks-Jay

Nan Jenks-Jay, who performed a key position in making Middlebury a nationwide chief in sustainability in increased schooling, is a pioneer in her subject. She served as dean of environmental affairs and taught within the Environmental Research Program on the School for 23 years earlier than retiring in 2019. Jenks-Jay fostered an built-in institutional imaginative and prescient for sustainability. By participating college students, trustees, directors, alumni, workers, and school throughout the establishment, she launched quite a few profitable initiatives. They embody reaching carbon neutrality; establishing the LEED Platinum Franklin Environmental Heart at Hillcrest; creating a college, program, and lab—the Middlebury College of the Surroundings now on the Middlebury Institute of Worldwide Research at Monterey, the World Partnerships for Sustainability program in 4 international locations, and the Sustainability Options Lab; and taking part in a key position within the conservation of two,400 acres of Bread Loaf lands. Jenks-Jay additionally helped create the Affiliation for the Development of Sustainability in Greater Training (AASHE), which offered her with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020. She acquired her BA in Biology from Kent State College and MES from the Yale College College of the Surroundings.  

The Graduation ceremony will happen on the primary quadrangle at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Could 29. 

Jason Collins to offer Middlebury School Class of 2020 Graduation handle

Jason Collins, a retired American participant within the Nationwide Basketball Affiliation (NBA), will ship the Middlebury School Graduation handle to the Class of 2020 at an in-person ceremony on Tuesday, Could 31. The category’s Graduation ceremony was delayed till this 12 months as a consequence of COVID-19. Collins briefly greeted the graduates of their Graduation video in 2020 however will give full remarks at their ceremony this Could.

After the 2012–2013 NBA season concluded, Collins publicly got here out as homosexual in a canopy story for Sports activities Illustrated. He was the primary male lively participant in any of the 4 main American skilled sports activities to announce that he was homosexual. Former President Obama expressed his gratitude to Collins for his braveness and stated he “couldn’t be prouder” of Collins, recognizing this as a degree of progress for the LGBT group.

“Jason Collins is aware of how essential it’s for younger folks to be free to be themselves,” stated Middlebury President Laurie Patton. “He had the bravery to do that and has spent his profession since retiring from the NBA as an advocate, encouraging others to take the identical daring step.

“It’s an honor to have Jason Collins as our speaker. We all know that his instance as a member of the LGBTQIA+ group will encourage our college students as they graduate and transfer to new challenges of their lives.”

Collins attended Stanford College, the place he was an All-American within the 2000–2001 season. Upon graduating from Stanford, Collins was chosen within the first spherical of the 2001 NBA draft with the 18th general choose. 

A 13-year veteran, Collins performed heart for seven groups together with New Jersey, Memphis, Minnesota, Atlanta, Boston, Washington, and the Brooklyn Nets (previously the New Jersey Nets). Throughout his time within the league, Collins’s groups earned 10 journeys to the playoffs, together with two NBA finals appearances. 

Collins has traveled the nation with the mission of empowering folks to stay their lives as their true selves and has change into an lively member of quite a few charities, foundations, and organizations. He has additionally acquired many awards. In April 2014, Collins was featured on the quilt of TIME journal’s “100 Most Influential Folks within the World” difficulty. In January of 2015, the Nationwide Civil Rights Museum honored Collins with a Sports activities Legacy Award.

Underneath the Obama administration, Collins served on the President’s Council on Health, Sports activities, and Diet. He has change into an NBA Cares Ambassador—spreading goodwill on behalf of the NBA with its gamers, group, and company companions.

Collins will obtain an honorary Physician of Humane Letters on the Graduation ceremony.

Middlebury will honor 4 different distinguished people with honorary levels on the Class of 2020’s Graduation ceremony: Choose Allison Burroughs ’83, famend musician and music educator Marta Casals Istomin, former chair of the Middlebury Board of Trustees Kim Collins Parizeau ’79, and entrepreneur, investor, advisor, and educator Ernie Parizeau.

Extra details about the 4 extra honorary diploma recipients follows:

Allison Burroughs ‘83

Allison Burroughs ’83, a choose for america District Court docket of Massachusetts, is an alumna and a 1989 graduate of the College of Pennsylvania Legislation College. She was appointed to the federal bench by Barack Obama and assumed her duties in early 2015. Burroughs was beforehand a accomplice within the Boston regulation agency of Nutter McClennen & Fish, the place she targeted on advanced litigation and white collar felony protection. Earlier than getting into personal apply, she served within the Boston and Philadelphia places of work of america Legal professional’s Workplace. Throughout her 16 years as an assistant United States lawyer, Burroughs investigated and prosecuted organized crime and drug instances in addition to refined white collar and financial crimes and laptop crimes. She started her authorized profession as a regulation clerk for U.S. District Choose Norma L. Shapiro within the Japanese District of Pennsylvania. Choose Burroughs serves on the board of administrators for Agassiz Village, an in a single day camp for youth from underserved communities. She is a frequent speaker on subjects equivalent to laptop crime, sentencing, well being care, and normal felony and civil litigation. 

Marta Casals Istomin is a famend musician identified for her work as a cellist and her dedication to musical schooling. Born in Puerto Rico, Istomin got here to New York to additional her musical research earlier than devoting her profession to selling arts across the globe. Her work has had worldwide attain, together with touring to the Republic of China as a member of the primary cultural delegation, working with the United Nations Instructional, Scientific, and Cultural Group, and serving as a delegate to the World Arts Discussion board. For greater than a decade, Istomin was the creative director of the John F. Kennedy Heart for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. She then was the director of the Evian Music Pageant earlier than serving because the president of the Manhattan College of Music for 13 years. Istomin presently sits on the Creative Council for Kronberg Academy, and he or she is the president emerita of the Manhattan College of Music. She beforehand was a member of the Nationwide Council of the Arts, a board member of Marlboro College of Music, and vice chairman of the Casals Basis and Museum. In 2015, she was awarded the Dwelling Legend Award from the Library of Congress. Istomin graduated from the Mannes College of Music. 

Kim Collins Parizeau ’79, P’12, ’15, ’19

Kim Collins Parizeau ’79, P’12, ’15, ’19 is an alumna and the previous chair of the Middlebury Board of Trustees, a board she served on for 16 years. She led the board by means of important transitions, together with the acquisition of the Middlebury Institute of Worldwide Research at Monterey, the recruitment of Laurie Patton because the School’s first lady president, and the adoption of Middlebury’s Energy2028 plan to handle local weather change. She additionally guided the board by means of a restructuring of its governance mannequin. Kim Parizeau was an promoting account govt with Dancer Fitzgerald Pattern in New York and later a advertising govt with Common Mills in Minneapolis. She cofounded Nanny Options Inc., a childcare companies agency. She and her enterprise accomplice, Linda Whitton ’80, received entrepreneurial awards from MasterCard Worldwide and Savvy journal for his or her revolutionary work within the subject of kid care. Kim Parizeau serves on the board of Matriculate, a company devoted to instructional fairness for college-bound college students in ignored communities. She earned an MBA on the Tuck College at Dartmouth in 1984. She and her husband, Ernie Parizeau, have 4 kids, three of whom are Middlebury graduates.

Ernie Parizeau P’12, ’15, ’19

Ernie Parizeau P’12, ’15, ’19 is a longtime advocate of experiential schooling and entrepreneurship. He’s a professor of the apply at Middlebury School, the place he teaches programs on entrepreneurship within the Enterprise and Enterprise Program and serves as a mentor and teacher for the MiddCORE program. He has additionally taught programs on entrepreneurship and enterprise capital investing at Babson School, Olin School of Engineering, and Dartmouth’s Tuck College of Enterprise. Ernie Parizeau is a former accomplice of Norwest Enterprise Companions, the place he invested in early-stage corporations within the software program, semiconductor, electronics, communications, well being care, schooling, and retail industries. He’s a member of the board of advisors of the Magnuson Heart for Entrepreneurship at Dartmouth. Ernie Parizeau is the previous chair of the Cape Eleuthera Basis and the Island College. He graduated from Dartmouth with an AB diploma in engineering sciences in 1979 and an MBA from the Tuck College in 1984. He’s married to Kim Collins Parizeau ’79.

The Graduation ceremony will happen on the primary quadrangle at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Could 31.