Commencement Address Distinguished Executive Speaker

Craig Boundy
Chief Executive Officer of Experian North America

Craig Boundy is Chief Executive Officer of Costa Mesa-based Experian North America, a $2.5 billion data and analytics firm, where he is responsible for the company’s North America business lines, including Credit Services and Decision Analytics, Consumer Services, Vertical Markets (Automotive and Health) and Marketing Services. He also is a member of Experian’s Global Operating Committee, which is dedicated to setting growth strategies. North America is the largest of Experian’s five major regions globally, representing more than 50 percent of its worldwide revenues.

Experian has been known primarily as a credit bureau, but in recent years under Craig’s leadership, the company has expanded its business around using data and analytics to help people manage their financial lives and protect their identity; to help companies manage, protect and grow their businesses; and to make a difference in society.

Experian North America has been recognized as a top workplace by the Orange County Register each year since Craig began leading the region’s 6,000 employees in 2014. Experian also was named a 2017 Top Company for Women Technologists by AnitaB.org. He attributes the success of Experian’s workplace to his focus on creating a culture based on collaboration, inclusion, innovation, two-way communication, valuing one another, and, ultimately, delighting customers.

An accomplished global business leader, Craig joined Experian in 2011 as Managing Director of Experian UK and Ireland before becoming CEO of North America in 2014. Prior to Experian, Craig was CEO of Logica in the United Kingdom, having joined the organization in 2008 as CEO of Global Operations. Before that, he served as Chief Operating Officer for Cable & Wireless’s business in Europe, the United States and Asia. Previously, Craig served as Sales Director and then COO at Energis. His early career was with British Telecommunications.

Born and raised in England, Craig attended Lancaster University in Lancashire, graduating in management studies and German in 1997. He is fluent in four languages — German, English, French and, as he lightheartedly says, “American” — all of which he credits for helping him to connect with people, both linguistically and culturally.

Craig has a passion for playing squash, soccer and basketball. He is an avid fan of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder.

He lives in Orange County with his wife and two children.

Class of 2018 Student Speakers

Amy Hu
Business Administration, Business Economics and Sociology Major; 2018 Chancellor's Award of Distinction

Amy Hu is a triple-major Business Administration, Business Economics, and Sociology student in the Campuswide Honors Program. Along with excelling in her academics, she has demonstrated initiative, passion, and dedication to the University of California, Irvine, through numerous leadership experiences and campus involvements. They include being the Founder and President of two student organizations, Women in Leadership and Real Estate Association at UCI, and serving as a Peer Academic Advisor for the Merage School and the Peer Academic Advising Program Coordinator. She also served as Vice President of Academic Affairs for the Merage Undergraduate Student Association, Student Programming Funding Board Commissioner for ASUCI, and Lead Research Assistant for Tweet2Quit. Amy has volunteered her time as an Ambassador and Treasurer of Anteater Ambassadors Network and the Chair of the 2018 UCI Senior Class Gift Committee. In 2017, Amy was named a recipient of the Distinguished Anteater Award and the Nitori Scholarship, followed by the Commercial Real Estate Women Scholarship in 2018.

In her free time Amy enjoys singing, listening to country music, and spending time with her family and friends. Upon graduation, Amy will pursue small business ownership by joining her older sister Wendy, a Merage alumna, and her younger sister Mary, a current Merage student, in the family business. 

Wajeeha Shakeel
Fully Employed MBA Graduate

Wajeeha Shakeel obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration-Finance from University of Southern California in 2011. She pursued her career aspirations in banking by joining a community bank in Whittier, California as a credit analyst after graduation. She had various responsibilities during her tenure at the bank including serving as a Secretary of Compliance Committee and Banker’s Secrecy Act Committee, reporting to the Board of Directors. Wajeeha is currently a Relationship Manager at Pacific Enterprise Bank in Irvine where she manages a portfolio of clients and underwrites loans, helping small businesses and entrepreneurs realize their dreams.

In the little time that she has between school and work, she serves as a Program Director of GirlTalkers, an organization committed to providing a supportive community that aims to unite, inspire, and connect women everywhere to realize their unique value. Driven by her passion and vision of a beautiful world in which nature and business thrive in harmony, Wajeeha volunteers as a Consultant at Seed Consulting Group. She capitalizes on her educational background and skills to help organizations that strive to become more environmentally conscious and sustainable in their practices. Wajeeha loves traveling to new places, experiencing diverse cultures, meeting interesting people, and spending time with family and friends. 

Honorable Mention

Congratulations to Undergraduate Allie Loomis and FTMBA Graduate Robby Ahn whose auditions were also outstanding.

June 18, 2018
9:30 am, Bren Events Center
UCI Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Enrique Lavernia, presiding

Ceremony

* Order called will be Full Time MBA, Executive MBA, Health Care Executive MBA, then Fully-Employed MBA programs

Post-Ceremony Reception at the Merage School

Immediately following our Commencement Ceremony at the Bren Events Center, you and your guests are welcome to join the dean, speakers, faculty and staff on the Merage School grounds for light refreshments and joyful celebration.

To allow parking space for the next ceremony's guests, please reposition your automobile from the Bren Events Center to the Merage School parking garage (SSPS on maps). Thank you. 

The 2018 Commencement Ceremony will be held at the Bren Events Center on UC Irvine's campus. Parking is free for all Commencement ceremonies.

PLEASE NOTE: There will be a purse/bag inspection at the door; it is best to leave all backpacks and bags at home or in the car before entering the Bren Events Center.

Download Directions

• Download a printable copy of the directions above.
• For more information, please see UCI Commencement.

Bren Center Seating - Tickets Required

All graduates will be seated with their class on the main floor, and guests with tickets have their choice of stadium seating surrounding the floor. You can download this general seating and staging map to see which sections are closest to each graduate program. Up to 6 guests with tickets will be accommodated at the Bren Center and any additional guests may gather at the Merage School Auditorium to watch the ceremony streamed live. In late May, each program office will distribute general admission tickets directly to graduates (tickets will NOT be available/distributed at the UCI Commencement site).

Have a question?  Email us.

History of Commencement

The colorful traditions surrounding academic regalia – gowns, caps, hoods, tassels, and cords – date back to the first European universities. What began in the Middle Ages as clothing worn by clerics to provide warmth in damp, unheated buildings progressed, by the time of Henry VIII of England, to detailed codes of dress prescribed by Oxford University and Cambridge University.

In the late 1800s, universities in the U.S. began to assign specific colors to signify the different academic disciplines, and those colors now appear in the trim of graduates’ gowns, the edging of hoods, and sometimes on the tassels of caps. The color white for example, which at Oxford and Cambridge is the white fur trim of baccalaureate hoods, in America was assigned to arts, letters and humanities graduates.

GOWNS

HOODS AND TASSELS

Hoods are ornamental folds draped down the back of the shoulders of academic gowns worn by Master’s or Doctoral degree graduates. Master’s degree candidates wear hoods lined with colors that reflect their course of study, such as Business Administration. Doctoral degree hoods have a silk lining with the colors of the institution from which the wearer has graduated. Graduates from the University of California system wear hoods lined with blue and gold, the university’s official colors, as well as colored velvet bands. 

The color of the velvet band on the Master’s and Doctoral hood indicates the title of the degree; the band on Masters hoods at the Paul Merage School of Business is officially called "drab" or tan. A doctorate recipient, regardless of the field of study, wears dark blue because the title of the degree is Doctor of Philosophy.

At the University of California, Irvine, all graduates wear a duo-color tassel made up of the University's colors, blue and gold. The year is stamped on the reverse side of the University of California, Irvine, official seal. Undergraduates receiving a degree have their tassel start on the right side and then it is moved to the left. Graduate level degree recipients start the tassel on the left side and it is not moved. 

HONORS AND CORDS

UC Irvine baccalaureate graduates, who have received campus-wide Latin honors (summa cum laude, magna cum laude, cum laude), wear gold cords. The Chancellor’s Award of Distinction recipients wear the blue and gold shoulder cord. Those who have received academic unit awards and prizes, or who have been elected to honor societies, wear blue cords. 

Graduate candidates receiving the Dean’s Scholar award wear two gold cords and those receiving the Beta Gamma Sigma award wear a blue and gold cord. Silver cords are for shareholders of the Dean’s Leadership Circle.

MACE

From its origins in the Middle Ages, the club shaped staff known as a mace has gradually taken on ceremonial character as a symbol of authority. In an American tradition begun in 1789 by the first Speaker of the House, the U.S. House of Representatives’ mace is one of the oldest symbols of our nation’s government, and is used both to open all sessions of the House and in the inaugural ceremonies for all Presidents of the United States.

The UCI Alumni Association, with the assistance of Associate Vice Chancellor Student Affairs Emeritus Chuck Pieper and Scenic Shop Supervisor Keith Bangs of the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, presented the UC Irvine Mace to the campus on May 12, 2000. While the silver orb at the top of the staff might be the first thing to catch the eye, the staff itself is memorable and unique. Carved from California oak, it is fashioned to resemble the nose of an anteater, the school mascot. The UC Irvine Mace was first carried at the 2000 Commencement ceremonies by the president of the UCI Alumni Association, Deborah Daniel. The Mace is always carried by a distinguished UC Irvine alumnus or alumna and leads the Commencement processional.

2018 Commencement Committee Members

• • Undergraduate:  Sarah Link  /  slink@uci.edu  
  • Full time MBA: Sofia Dang  /  sofia.dang@uci.edu
  • FEMBA:  Vanessa Tafreshi  /  vtafresh@uci.edu
  • EMBA: Meg Sfeir-Younis  /  huffm@uci.edu
  • HCEMBA:  Meg Sfeir-Younis  /  huffm@uci.edu
  • MPAc: Jacqueline Rodio  /  rodioj@uci.edu
  • MFIN: Miranda Young  /  miranday@uci.edu
  • MSBA: Miranda Young  /  miranday@uci.edu
  • PhD:  Noel Negrete  /  nnegrete@uci.edu
  • Faculty:  Diane Sagey  /  dsagey@uci.edu
  • Reception: Diane Ford  /  forddm@uci.edu

• Dean's Leadership Circle: Ariel Shrader  /  ashrader@uci.edu
• All other questions:  Diane Sagey  /  dsagey@uci.edu

STUDENT SHOUT OUT/THANK YOU VIDEO
DUE MAY 30

1. Find a quiet space with minimal background noise. Feel free to be creative, or a simple smile and "thank you" to loved ones is just as appreciated.
2. Record your own (no more than) 10-second selfie video. IMPORTANT: turn your phone to film the video in landscape mode (wider rather than taller). If you have the capability to adjust video settings on your phone or camera, use 1080p at 30 frames per second (720p is acceptable) - if you don't know how, that’s okay...send us what you record.
3. Name the file with your program and name (as in: FEMBA John Jones) 
4. By May 30, transfer the file to us using the free service at www.WeTransfer.com (there’s a phone app, too): On the screen, click on the “+ Add files” button. For “Friend’s email,” use brightfuture@merage.uci.edu. Then type in your email address where it asks. Click on the “Transfer” button.  Watch for a confirming email from us within the next three working days – email us if you don’t receive confirmation.