Menu
Soggy forecast looms Sunday for DePauw commencement
No meteorological degree is necessary to suggest DePauw University's 178th Commencement Sunday morning could be soggy. The Weather Channel's outlook is calling for a 90 percent chance of morning showers and a possible thunderstorm, with a high of 73 degrees.
As is the DPU custom, commencement is scheduled to take place outdoors at 10:30 a.m. in Holton Memorial Quadrangle (just west of East College). Should conditions require it, the ceremony will be moved indoors to DePauw's Lilly Physical Education and Recreation Center.
Jim Alling, chief executive officer of TOMS and 1983 graduate of DePauw, will deliver the primary address to the Class of 2017. Alling has led TOMS since April 2016 and was previously chief operating officer of T-Mobile and president of Starbucks International and Starbucks USA.
He, along with rock 'n' roll legend Todd Rundgren and Jesse Kharbanda, executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council, will receive honorary doctorates during the ceremony Sunday.
"Jim Alling is a shining example of why DePauw is considered a laboratory for leadership, and we are honored and excited that he will be sharing his optimism and energy with our graduates," DPU President D. Mark McCoy said of the speaker. "He's more than a visionary leader; his work and leadership are touching lives around the world."
An economics and Spanish double-major at DePauw, Alling has more than 30 years of general management and marketing experience in consumer packaged goods and consumer retailing, having served as an executive at four top global companies: Starbucks, T-Mobile, Nestle and most recently TOMS.
TOMS' business model is designed to make a positive difference in the world and advance health, education and economic opportunity for people worldwide. Each time the company sells a pair of shoes, a new pair of shoes is given to an impoverished child. TOMS also sells eyewear, and takes part of the profit from each sale to save or restore the eyesight for people in developing countries.
With each purchase of TOMS Roasting Co. coffee, the company works with other organizations termed "giving partners" to provide 140 liters of safe water (a one-week supply) to a person in need. Purchases of TOMS bags help provide training for skilled birth attendants and distribute birth kits containing items that help a woman safely deliver her baby.
Alling joined Starbucks in 1997 to lead the launch of its coffee into grocery stores. He earned multiple promotions to become president of Starbucks Coffee USA with more than 10,000 retail locations, sales of more than $7 billion, and more than 125,000 employees. He also served as president of Starbucks International, overseeing more than 5,000 stores in 45 different countries with sales topping $4 billion.
Alling began his career in 1985 at Nestle, earning a series of promotions to vice president and general manager for Nestle USA.
Rocker Rundgren is best known as the composer and performer of "Hello It's Me" and "Bang The Drum All Day," the latter of which has become a staple of Friday afternoon radio programs and sports arenas with its chorus of "I don't want to work/I want to bang on the drum all day." But those two tunes and a handful of other hits ("Can We Still Be Friends," "We've Gotta Get You a Woman," "I Saw the Light," "Love is the Answer") are a small sampling of a career that spans about 50 years and has spawned some 100 albums, counting the releases Rundgren has released himself and produced for others.
One of the best-selling rock albums of all time, Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell, was produced by Rundgren, who also plays lead guitar throughout the disc. The laundry list of other Rundgren-produced albums includes Grand Funk Railroad's We're An American Band, Patti Smith's Wave, XTC's Skylarking, Cheap Trick's Next Position Please, and Forever Now by the Psychedelic Furs.
In the late 1970s, Rundgren built his own video studio and began creating his own music videos. "Time Heals" was one of the first videos to air when MTV debuted on Aug. 1, 1981. He also created what became known as the Apple PaintBox program and developed the world's first interactive music disc.
Rundgren has just released his latest album, "White Knight," which features collaborations with Trent Reznor, Joe Walsh, Daryl Hall, Bettye LaVette, Robyn and Donald Fagen, among others. His visit to campus will come in the midst of a tour supporting the new record.
Meanwhile, Kharbanda leads Indiana's largest environmental policy organization, overseeing the Hoosier Environmental Council's strategic and program development, legislative initiatives, operations and fundraising. HEC is focused on three core initiatives: Clean energy, sustainable agriculture and 21st-century transportation systems.
Kharbanda's decade-long involvement in Indiana legislative matters began in 2006 while at the Environmental Law and Policy Center. He has been named to the "Forty Under 40″ list by the Indianapolis Business Journal in 2011, won the Hulman Health Achievement Award for Public Policy Advocacy in 2015.
He has graduate degrees from Oxford University and undergraduate degrees from the University of Chicago.