DU Announces Speakers for 2025 Commencement

As members of the Class of 2025 file into Magness Arena for the last time as students, they will likely be thinking about their next steps—perhaps a new job, a move to another city, a new place to live.  

The long-term success of these graduates, wherever they go and whatever they do, is top of mind for this year’s two keynote speakers, Robert C. Newman and Catherine “Cassie” J. Boggs (BA ’76, JD ’81). Both will offer insights into what they’ve learned about success in their distinguished careers. 

Graduate ceremonies: The power of serendipity 

Newman, an honorary life trustee, and his wife Judi are active philanthropists in the Denver area and the generous donors behind the Newman Center for the Performing Arts. Newman, who has a storied background in computer programming and software development, will focus his talk on the power of serendipity and being open to unexpected experiences and opportunities. 

He will share examples of chance encounters he had while in school and in the early days of his career that, while not changing his plans, resulted in what he calls “course corrections.”   

One such encounter was striking up a conversation with a fellow student in one of his MBA classes at UCLA who ended up becoming his study partner and introduced him to computer networking. That student was Vint Cerf, who later became known as one of the “fathers of the internet.”  

Newman went on to work for Northern American Aviation and Motorola, where computers were used for the first time in cellular telephony. He then started his own software development company in Denver, eventually merging with another firm to form J.D. Edwards & Company, which became the fourth largest software application company in the world. He left J.D. Edwards in the late 1990s and opened a venture capital company called Greenwood Gulch Ventures. He has served on several corporate and nonprofit boards, including DU’s Board of Trustees, and was an adjunct professor in the Daniels College of Business.  

As graduates look ahead to their future careers, Newman will urge them to strive for their goals but remain flexible.  

“If I had stuck rigidly to my plans, I might never have stumbled into the opportunities I had,” he says. “That’s the magic of serendipity. It thrives in openness, open minds, open conversations, and the courage to say ‘yes’ even when the opportunity doesn’t look like what you expected.” 

Undergraduate ceremonies: Three simple lessons 

Cassie Boggs is a two-time DU graduate, with degrees in economics and law, and a current adjunct faculty member in the Sturm College of Law. She is also a former gymnast, having competed on DU’s women’s team in its very first season as a varsity sport in 1975.  

A fifth-generation Coloradan, Boggs says DU runs in her family. Her father, sister, and two nieces have all gone to DU—and her goddaughter is graduating this spring and will get to hear her speak. 

“DU has given not only me but people in my family such an opportunity. My father was able to go to DU on the GI Bill, and it changed his life,” she says. “And it’s given me, a simple girl from Aurora, a great career. It was not a career that I was planning on when I graduated, but it turned out so much better than if I had followed what I thought I was going to do.”    

After earning her undergrad degree, Boggs was encouraged by one of her economics professors to pursue a master’s in the Natural Resource Economics program at Michigan State. She did—and that led her to focus on natural resource law at DU, ultimately launching a four-decade career in the mining industry. Over the years, she has worked in private practice and industry, including serving as general counsel for Resource Capital Funds (RCF) in the U.S. and internationally. She has lived and worked in Indonesia, Canada, Pakistan, England, and Tanzania, among others.  

After retiring from RCF in 2019, she started co-teaching the class Negotiating Natural Resource Agreements with Sturm professor Tonye Oki. She currently serves as board chair at Hecla Mining Company and lectures and teaches around the world.  

Boggs will offer DU’s undergraduates three pieces of advice she has learned from her academic and legal career.  

The first is the importance of being open to possibilities. “People might come and say to you, ‘You’re really good at this’ or ‘Have you ever thought about doing this?’ It might be a complete deviation from how you think about yourself, but it’s worth exploring.” 

She will also speak on the value of learning how to communicate effectively, in any situation, and simply being nice.  

“It’s a popular idea that you have to pound your fist to get your way, but that’s not a long-term strategy,” she says. “You can get everything you need but also be civil, polite, and fair. The person you crush today could be someone you interact with in the future—and they will remember how you treated them.”     

For more details on DU’s graduate and undergraduate ceremonies, visit our Commencement page.