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Graziadio School of Business and Management Hosts Summer Graduation
The Graziadio School of Business and Management will host its summer commencement ceremony Saturday, Aug. 4, at 10:30 a.m. at Firestone Fieldhouse, Malibu. Jeff Sprecher (MBA '84), founder of IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) will be presented with the Distinguished Alumni Award. Jack Schlafer (MSOD '12), principal program and change manager at Microsoft, will deliver the student address.
Distinguished Alumni Award
Jeff Sprecher (MBA '84)
Founder, IntercontinentalExchange (ICE)
Sprecher has served as the chief executive officer at ICE since May 2000 and as the chairman of the board since November 2002. His leadership has been characterized by a focus on innovation, transparency, and capital efficiency in the global derivatives markets. He has led numerous strategic initiatives that have enabled ICE to expand from a single asset class—energy—into five asset classes today.
Sprecher serves on the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Global Market Advisory Committee and is a member of the Energy Security Leadership Council. Raised in Wisconsin, he earned a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and is a graduate from the Full-time MBA program at Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business and Management.
Student Speaker
Jack Schlafer, (MSOD '12)
Principal Program and Change Manager, Microsoft
Jack Schlafer (MSOD '12), principal program and change manager at Microsoft, will deliver the student address. Jeff Sprecher (MBA '84), founder of IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) will be presented with the Distinguished Alumni Award.
Schlafer, concerned with the effects of business globalization on organizational life, has committed to learning and researching the topic of cultural intelligence (CQ), "a person's capability to adapt effectively to new cultural contexts." The Microsoft executive uses his expertise as an OD practitioner to facilitate understanding of individuals in cross-cultural settings, to ensure people can be effective in this new "globalized" business environment. He exemplifies the Graziadio School mission by working with managers and their organizations to seek the collective good, employing the values of integrity, stewardship, courage, and compassion.
Schlafer serves as principal program and change manager at Microsoft for the Seattle-based technology giant's Quality Assurance, Business Process Alignment Group, MSIT. Graduating this August with a Master of Science in Organization Development, he has been selected by faculty and fellow classmates to deliver the student speech at commencement ceremonies for the Graziadio School of Business and Management.
"Jack receives the honor having demonstrated outstanding academic performance and having represented the school's mission and values both inside and outside of the classroom in exemplar fashion," said Linda A. Livingstone, dean of the business school.
A senior leader for over 20 years in the field of information technology and international business, Jack knows firsthand the challenges of managing enterprise scale change; enjoying personal growth and opportunity in a competitive environment; building a supportive team environment that impacts the corporate culture; and renewing and revitalizing purpose, passion, and values through life's transitions. Living abroad in Europe for two years, he personally experienced the challenges of driving global change in different cultures through a worldwide IT transformation program.
Jack holds a Master of Science in Information Systems Management from the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering. He is also a certified coach through Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara, and the International Coaching Federation, a Project Management Professional, and a Cultural Intelligence certified facilitator.
For more information, visit the Graziadio School Graduation Web site.
