Speakers
Law ceremony | Graduate ceremony | Undergraduate ceremony
Law ceremony, May 16, 2009
Terrance D. Carroll, speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives
The first African-American to rise to Speaker of the House, Terrance D. Carroll represents Colorado’s District 7, spanning northeast Denver.
Carroll’s first elective office was his current seat in the 65-member chamber, where he has served since 2003. During the 2008 session, he served as Assistant Majority Leader, known for crafting legislation on criminal justice and legal policy. He has been a strong advocate for social causes and education reform.
Carroll, who earned his juris doctor degree from the Sturm College of Law in 2005, has served as a member of the Colorado Secretary of State’s Blue Ribbon Election Panel, which conducted a comprehensive review of Colorado’s election law. He is a member of the Colorado Lawyers Committee’s Election Law Task Force.
In February 1999, the Urban Spectrum Magazine recognized him as an “African-American Who Makes a Difference,” and in September 1999, the Rocky Mountain News cited him as an “Up and Coming African-American Leader.” In 2006, he was named a Marshall Memorial Fellow by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a public policy institute dedicated to promoting greater understanding between the United States and Europe.
Graduate ceremony, June 5, 2009
Joseph W. Saunders, chairman and CEO of Visa Inc.
Joseph W. Saunders was named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Visa Inc. in May 2007 after having been designated Executive Chairman in February 2007. Prior to this role, he served Visa International as Executive Chairman of the transition governance committee.
Before joining Visa International, Saunders served as President of Card Services for Washington Mutual, Inc., since the acquisition of Providian Financial Corporation in October 2005. He was president and CEO of Providian from November 2001, and Chairman of the board of directors from May 2002 until Washington Mutual’s acquisition of Providian in 2005. From 1997 until 2001, Saunders served as Chairman and CEO of Fleet Credit Card Services at FleetBoston Financial Corporation.
Saunders served as a member of the board of directors of Visa U.S.A. from October 2002 to February 2007 and Visa International from October 2005 to February 2007, when he resigned from the boards of directors of Visa U.S.A. and Visa International to take the Executive Chairman position of the Visa transition governance committee. From 1993 to 1997, while at Household Finance Corporation, he served as a member of the boards of directors of MasterCard International Inc. and MasterCard U.S.A., and he was elected chairman of MasterCard International’s board of directors in 1996.
Undergraduate ceremony, June 6, 2009
Diana DeGette, representative for the First District of Colorado
Diana DeGette is serving her seventh term in Congress as the representative for the First District of Colorado. She is also vice chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, a congressional committee with jurisdiction over health care, trade, business, technology, food safety and consumer protection.
In 2005, DeGette was promoted to the House Democratic leadership as Chief Deputy Whip. Now in the Majority, she works to ensure passage of key pieces of legislation. As lead whip, she played a vital role in the reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, has fought for tough food safety legislation, and was a key player in crafting a comprehensive consumer product safety bill. DeGette previously served six years as Regional Whip and two years as the Democratic Floor Whip.
A life-long Coloradoan, DeGette is guided by traditional Western values. She’s also the author of the landmark Colorado Wilderness Act, which would protect and preserve 1.6 million acres of pristine land across Colorado for generations to come. She has fought to enhance her constituents’ access to affordable quality health care, expand mass transit, improve transportation in the Denver area, clean up environmental waste sites and improve opportunities for small business.