Worcester Polytechnic Institute Announces 2025 Commencement Speakers
The leader of an iconic apparel company and the co-founder and chair of Moderna are the honored speakers for the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Class of 2025 Commencement exercises, to be held May 15 and 16 at the DCU Center in downtown Worcester.
Michelle Gass ’90, president and chief executive officer of Levi Strauss & Co., one of the world’s most storied and recognizable brands, will deliver the address at the university’s Undergraduate Commencement ceremony on Friday, May 16 at 2 p.m. Noubar Afeyan, inventor, entrepreneur, and founder of Flagship Pioneering, and co-founder and chair of Moderna, the pioneering messenger RNA biotech company, will deliver the address at the university’s Graduate Commencement ceremony on Thursday, May 15 at 5 p.m.
“Innovation and entrepreneurship are part of WPI’s DNA,” said WPI President Grace J. Wang, PhD. “Michelle’s visionary and innovative leadership at Levi Strauss & Co. is leveraging the brand’s iconic heritage to build sustainable growth for years to come. And Noubar’s ingenuity and capacity to connect humans, technology, and nature are powering revolutionary advances in medicine and biotechnology. They will share their stories with our graduates as they begin shaping their own futures.” Gass is president and chief executive officer of Levi Strauss & Co., one of the world’s largest brand-name apparel companies and the global leader in denim. She joined the company in 2023 and is spearheading the transformation of the 171-year-old company into a best-in-class, direct-to-consumer-first denim lifestyle retailer. This involves expanding the Levi’s product portfolio, particularly for women, along with the company’s retail and ecommerce operations across global markets – all while honoring and upholding the company’s heritage and values. She previously served five years as chief executive officer at Kohl’s, where she developed its ecommerce business into a multibillion-dollar operation and established innovative brand partnerships. Gass began her career with Procter & Gamble, then spent nearly 17 years with Starbucks, ultimately serving as president, Starbucks EMEA, after holding a variety of senior leadership roles across product, marketing and global strategy. Gass has received numerous professional honors, including being named to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business and Businessperson of the Year lists, as well as being named The Visionary 2020 by the National Retail Federation. Raised in Lewiston, Maine, she received her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from WPI and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Washington. Gass and her husband Scott now live in San Francisco, and they have two grown children. Afeyan is the founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering and co-founder and board chair of Moderna. Founded in 2000, Flagship has created more than 100 companies, most of them first-in-category bioplatform companies like Moderna. Flagship companies have created more than $100 billion in aggregate value, thousands of patent applications, and have more than 50 drugs in clinical development. Moderna is known for rapidly developing and deploying a lifesaving mRNA-based vaccine during the COVID-19 pandemic and for pioneering cancer vaccines in partnership with Merck. Afeyan entered biotechnology during its emergence as an academic field and industry, completing his doctoral work in biochemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1987. He was a senior lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management from 2000 to 2016, a lecturer at Harvard Business School until 2020, and currently serves as a member of the MIT Corporation. He teaches and speaks around the world on topics ranging from entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic development to biological engineering, new medicines, and renewable energy. In 2022, Afeyan was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
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The leader of an iconic apparel company and the co-founder and chair of Moderna are the honored speakers for the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Class of 2025 Commencement exercises, to be held May 15 and 16 at the DCU Center in downtown Worcester.
- Michelle Gass ’90, president and chief executive officer of Levi Strauss & Co., one of the world’s most storied and recognizable brands, will deliver the address at the university’s Undergraduate Commencement ceremony on Friday, May 16 at 2 p.m.
- Noubar Afeyan, inventor, entrepreneur, and founder of Flagship Pioneering, and co-founder and chair of Moderna, the pioneering messenger RNA biotech company, will deliver the address at the university’s Graduate Commencement ceremony on Thursday, May 15 at 5 p.m.
“Innovation and entrepreneurship are part of WPI’s DNA,” said WPI President Grace J. Wang, PhD. “Michelle’s visionary and innovative leadership at Levi Strauss & Co. is leveraging the brand’s iconic heritage to build sustainable growth for years to come. And Noubar’s ingenuity and capacity to connect humans, technology, and nature are powering revolutionary advances in medicine and biotechnology. They will share their stories with our graduates as they begin shaping their own futures.”
Gass is president and chief executive officer of Levi Strauss & Co., one of the world’s largest brand-name apparel companies and the global leader in denim. She joined the company in 2023 and is spearheading the transformation of the 171-year-old company into a best-in-class, direct-to-consumer-first denim lifestyle retailer. This involves expanding the Levi’s product portfolio, particularly for women, along with the company’s retail and ecommerce operations across global markets – all while honoring and upholding the company’s heritage and values.
She previously served five years as chief executive officer at Kohl’s, where she developed its ecommerce business into a multibillion-dollar operation and established innovative brand partnerships. Gass began her career with Procter & Gamble, then spent nearly 17 years with Starbucks, ultimately serving as president, Starbucks EMEA, after holding a variety of senior leadership roles across product, marketing and global strategy.
Gass has received numerous professional honors, including being named to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business and Businessperson of the Year lists, as well as being named The Visionary 2020 by the National Retail Federation. Raised in Lewiston, Maine, she received her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from WPI and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Washington. Gass and her husband Scott now live in San Francisco, and they have two grown children.
Afeyan is the founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering and co-founder and board chair of Moderna. Founded in 2000, Flagship has created more than 100 companies, most of them first-in-category bioplatform companies like Moderna. Flagship companies have created more than $100 billion in aggregate value, thousands of patent applications, and have more than 50 drugs in clinical development. Moderna is known for rapidly developing and deploying a lifesaving mRNA-based vaccine during the COVID-19 pandemic and for pioneering cancer vaccines in partnership with Merck.
Afeyan entered biotechnology during its emergence as an academic field and industry, completing his doctoral work in biochemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1987. He was a senior lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management from 2000 to 2016, a lecturer at Harvard Business School until 2020, and currently serves as a member of the MIT Corporation. He teaches and speaks around the world on topics ranging from entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic development to biological engineering, new medicines, and renewable energy. In 2022, Afeyan was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
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