Hundreds at Haas to Toss Mortar Boards in May

More than 900 Haas School students will mark a major milestone in their lives this May when they graduate in three separate ceremonies.

The first ceremony, for Berkeley MBAs, will be held on Friday, May 14, at 2 p.m. at the Greek Theatre. Five hundred students from the Full-time, Evening & Weekend, and Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA programs will gather with their families and friends to receive their diplomas.

Richard Blum, BS 58, MBA 59., recipient of the Haas 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award, will give the MBA commencement speech, sharing his experiences as founder and chairman of private equity firm Blum Partners and the American Himalayan Foundation. Blum also serves as a University of California regent and has given more than $30 million to create a build a new facility for the Richard C. Blum Center for Developing Economies, where faculty and students and across Berkeley focus on creating sustainable solutions to global poverty.

The Haas PhD commencement will take place at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, May 15, in the Andersen Auditorium. A record 16 PhD students are graduating this year.

About 400 seniors will graduate with BS degrees on Wednesday, May 19, at 9 a.m. at the Greek Theatre. The commencement speaker, Sabrina Simmons, BS 85, will return to campus to inspire the students with wisdom gained from her accomplishments as CFO of Gap Inc., where she oversees the global finances of one of the world’s largest specialty retailers.

Haas School graduates are going on to jobs at such companies as Deloitte, McKinsey & Company, The Boston Consulting Group, Amazon.com, Del Monte Corp., and Apple.

Read transcripts of Richard Blum's MBA commencement speech and Sabrina Simmons' undergraduate commencement speech >

Read transcripts of the MBA commencement and undergraduate commencement speeches
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