Three Auburn University alumni will be speaking to new graduates at the 2018 spring graduation ceremonies this week.
Susan Story, a 1981 Auburn graduate and president and CEO of American Water Works, will speak at both of the Saturday ceremonies in Auburn Arena; 1983 Auburn grad and CEO of World Poultry Foundation Randall Ennis will speak at the Sunday ceremonies and Melanie Barstad, a 1975 graduate and former president of women's health for Johnson & Johnson will speak at the 10 a.m. ceremony on Monday.
In total, the University will confer 4,032 degrees on new graduates across four days. The Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and University College will have their ceremony at 10 a.m. on Saturday and the College of Architecture, Design and Construction, the College of Human Sciences, the School of Nursing and the College of Sciences and Mathematics will have theirs at 2 p.m. also on Saturday. Story will give remarks at both.
She has served as chief executive of American Water Works, the largest publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater utility company, since 2014. Prior to that, she spent over three decades at Southern Company, serving as CEO of Southern Company Services and president and CEO of Gulf Power Company. She serves as the independent lead director for Raymond James Financial and is on the Dominion Energy board of directors. She also serves on the Moffitt Cancer Center Board of Advisors.
Ennis will speak at the ceremonies for the College of Agriculture, the College of Education and the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences at 1 p.m. on Sunday and at the 5 p.m. ceremony for the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business.
He became CEO of World Poultry Foundation in 2015. The nonprofit organization has a mission to solve hunger and poverty issues through the production and consumption of poultry while empowering farmers. Ennis has previously served as the president of the Alabama Poultry and Egg Association and has served on the boards of the National Chicken Council, the International Poultry Council, the European Primary Breeders Association and the National Poultry Technology Center.
Prior to Barstad’s retirement from Johnson & Johnson, she served as president of women’s health, president of acute care and co-chair of the company’s global women’s leadership initiative. While president of acute care, she had oversight of revenues driving growth for the company’s largest and most strategic customers. Barstad currently serves on the Cintas board of directors, and she recently served on the Auburn University Foundation board of directors.
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