Ohio Northern University will celebrate its 2015 Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony in the ONU Sports Center on Sunday, May 10, at 2 p.m.
Keith Krach, chairman and CEO of DocuSign, The Global Standard for Digital Transaction Management, will serve as the undergraduate commencement speaker. Elizabeth Lendrum, a 2015 candidate for graduation in biology from Shreve, Ohio, will serve as the student commencement speaker
Krach leads DocuSign’s high-performance team to empower the world to Keep Business Digital. DocuSign’s mission is to allow anyone to transact anything, anytime, anywhere, on any device. Securely. The DocuSign Global Trust Network has more than 120,000 companies, has more than 40 million unique users in 188 countries, and is adding 50,000 unique users per day. Krach co-founded Ariba, serving as chairman and CEO. Krach is widely recognized as pioneering B2B Commerce and was recognized with the Technology Pioneer Award at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He was also named National Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young. Today, nearly $1 trillion of commerce is transacted through the Ariba network.
Krach started his career at GM as its youngest ever vice president. He then joined the founding team of Rasna Corporation, which was sold to Parametric Technologies. Rasna transformed the mechanical computer-aided engineering (CAE) industry, and Krach was recognized as an early pioneer within the Robotics industry.
Krach earned his BS in engineering at Purdue University and his MBA at Harvard. He is chairman emeritus of the Board of Trustees at Purdue University. Krach is also the former chairman of the Board at Angie’s List, former international president of Sigma Chi Fraternity, and one of the early founders and board members at XOJet.
At the undergraduate ceremony, Krach will be awarded an honorary degree. Ohio Northern also will award honorary degrees to John J. Bishop, a 1972 ONU graduate and chairman of the board of The Motorists Insurance, and Roger Young, retired ONU professor who taught at the University for 34 years.
Bishop, who served as past chairman and is a current member of the ONU Board of Trustees, is chairman of the board of The Motorists Insurance Group. The Motorists Insurance Group is an affiliated group of 10 property and casualty and life insurance entities operating in 21 states with more than 5,000 independent insurance agents. Bishop joined Motorists in 1972 and progressed through a series of management positions.
He joined the group’s senior executive team in 1995, was named president and chief operating officer in 2000, and was elected CEO and chairman of the board in 2001. During Bishop’s tenure as CEO, The Motorists Insurance Group more than doubled in size and now ranks among the top 25 mutual property and casualty insurance organizations in the U.S.
Bishop has been actively involved in numerous civic and industry organizations. During his career, he has served as chairman or president of the Ohio Insurance Institute, the Griffith Insurance Education Foundation, the Ohio Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, and the Association of Ohio Life Insurance Companies and on the boards of the Ohio Law Enforcement Foundation and the Central Ohio United Way. He also currently serves as chairman of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC).
In fall 2014, Ohio Northern University established the John J. Bishop and The Motorists Insurance Group Endowed Scholarship Fund to benefit students in ONU’s risk management and insurance (RMI) program in the Dicke College of Business Administration. The scholarship provides financial support for qualified ONU freshmen who pursue professional careers in insurance or risk management through the RMI major.
Bishop is a native of Lima, Ohio, and graduate of Lima Central Catholic (LCC) High School. In 2010, he was inducted into the LCC Hall of Fame for professional achievement. He and his wife, Shirley, were high school sweethearts, reside in Powell, Ohio, and Marco Island, Fla., and are the proud parents of two adult sons, daughters-in-law and three grandchildren.
Young has positively impacted the lives of thousands of business students during his 34-plus year career at Ohio Northern. He joined the ONU faculty 1964 and retired in 1998. He didn’t stay retired for long; after eight years at Bluffton University, Young returned to ONU as a visiting professor emeritus in 2008. During his initial 34 years as a faculty member at ONU, Young served in a variety of leadership roles and was recognized several times by students and colleagues. In 1972, he was named Outstanding Educator in America, and, in 1975, he became the first winner of ONU’s “Professor of the Year” contest. In 1994, he was named the George Willard Patton Chair, and, in 1995, he received an Excellence in Teaching honor.
Young served as vice president for financial affairs from 1989 to 1993 and again in 2011-12, interim dean of the College of Business Administration from 1984 to 1986, and chair of the Department of Business Administration and Economics from 1974 to 1979. The Dicke College of Business Administration recently established the Roger D. Young Endowed Professorship in Accounting to honor the accounting professor emeritus who inspired countless ONU students over a period of more than three decades. Young received his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Miami University of Ohio in 1959 and his MBA in accounting from Xavier University in 1964.
Doors for the undergraduate commencement ceremony will open Sunday at 12:30 p.m. Guests should arrive by 1 p.m. The musical prelude will begin at 1:30 p.m., followed by the procession of faculty and students.
Link: https://www.onu.edu/node/65469
Ohio Northern University’s quality, student-centered education distinctively combines nationally ranked sciences, arts and professional programs for more than 3,600 students in its five colleges: Arts & Sciences, Business Administration, Engineering, Pharmacy and Law.
