More than 1,000 students are expected to graduate from St. John Fisher College at the ceremony at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, where bachelor’s master’s, and doctoral students will receive their diplomas.
“We are honored to have Colleen serve as the keynote speaker at our Commencement ceremony. Her professional and personal accomplishments and demonstrated commitment to the community are a great example for our graduates,” Gerard J. Rooney, president of St. John Fisher College, said in a news release. “The values of the College align so closely with those of the Wegmans company, and we look forward to the wisdom and advice she will offer.”
Founded in 1916, Rochester–based Wegmans is a family-owned supermarket chain with 92 stores in six states. It has about a dozen stores in Central New York.
Colleen Wegman first joined the company in 1991 and was named president in 2005. More than 600 St. John Fisher alumni and current students work or intern with the company, per the release.
The Wegman family have been benefactors of St. John Fisher for more than 60 years. The late Robert B. Wegman — Colleen’s grandfather — first joined the college’s board of trustees in the 1960s. In 2005, a $5 million company gift led to the foundation of the Wegmans School of Pharmacy, and a year later, an $8 million Wegmans gift — the largest in college history — established the Wegmans School of Nursing.
At the ceremony, Colleen Wegman will follow in her grandfather’s footsteps, becoming the second family member to receive an honorary degree from St. John Fisher, the college said.
Wegman has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado and a master’s degree from the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester.
St. John Fisher College, located on a 154-acre campus in Pittsford, says it has more than 2,600 full-time undergraduates, nearly 200 part-time undergraduates, and over 1,000 graduate students.
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Photo caption: Colleen Wegman, president of Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.
Photo credit: Wegmans website