An executive from the personal care company Procter & Gamble and a CBS News correspondent will deliver the keynote address to graduates of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the College of Visual and Performing Arts, respectively, in May.

Deborah Henretta — the group president of global beauty at P&G, a Newhouse alumna and a member of the college’s advisory board — will deliver the keynote address at the Newhouse convocation ceremony, according to a March 24 press release. Danielle Nottingham, a 1999 VPA alumna, will speak at VPA’s convocation ceremony, according to an April 3 VPA press release. Both ceremonies will be held in the Carrier Dome on May 10.

Nottingham began her career as a speechwriter, public information officer and special assistant for former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey. She spent the last three years covering politics in Washington, D.C. for CBS and is now based in Los Angeles.

Erica Blust, VPA director of communications, could not be reached for comment on why they chose Nottingham to be the school’s convocation speaker, but said in a previous Daily Orange article that the dean of VPA selects the speaker. Last year, VPA had Bryan Buckley, a film director, speak at its convocation.

Henretta oversees the company’s beauty brands such as Covergirl, Pantene and Old Spice, according to the Newhouse press release. She was ranked No. 17 on Fortune Magazine’s 2014 Global List of the Most Powerful Women in Business.

Newhouse dean Lorraine Branham said in an email that the school tries to pick someone who represents one of Newhouse’s eight majors, especially alumni. Henretta was selected because she is an alumna, a powerful woman in corporate America and is from the advertising field.

“We also hadn’t had anyone from the advertising major in a while and we have never had a woman,” she said. “As a school that is 65 percent female, I thought that was a major oversight and having a woman speaker is long overdue.”

Branham said Newhouse doesn’t have an elaborate selection process like Syracuse University does for the main convocation speaker because the cost of the speaker is factored in.

“A key factor for us is cost. It has to be someone who is willing to do this gratis,” Branham said. “We only pay travel expenses. And fortunately our alumni are usually willing to do this because they love the school.”

Sometimes students will suggest speakers, but those people typically have high fees, Branham said. One suggested speaker this year was NBC correspondent Ann Curry. Because she is not an alumna and her price was out of the school’s price range, she wasn’t selected, Branham said.

Branham added that Newhouse isn’t trying to compete with the university in terms of speakers — high-profile speakers are appropriately speaking at the main commencement ceremony, she said.

Carolyn Fine, a senior advertising major, said in an email that she’s excited for Henretta to speak at convocation after seeing her speak last year in the Eric Mower Advertising Forum.

“Through her work with global beauty brands and general knowledge of the field, I knew I was sitting in the presence of a truly remarkable woman,” Fine said. “She also gave great advice to students to be courageous and take risks, be innovative and embrace and lead change.”

Branham said her hope for every speaker is the same: that they will say something inspirational that students will find meaningful and reflect upon later, in addition to sharing words of wisdoms from their careers, encouraging students to pursue their dreams and reminding them to give back.

“And do it all in 15–20 minutes max because we have 600 hands to shake and we have to get out of the Dome in time for the next school to hold their ceremony,” she added.

-Asst. news editor Brett Samuels contributed reporting to this article

 

 

Published on April 16, 2014 at 1:01 am

Contact Ellen: ekmeyers@syr.edu | @ellenkmeyers