The GW Business Class of 2024 graduated into a world marked by climate upheaval, volatile financial markets and new frontiers in technology, including Artificial Intelligence. Speakers at the school’s Commencement ceremonies urged graduates to leverage opportunities within those challenges while building a better world.
At the May 16, 2024, graduation program for undergraduates, during which 371 bachelor’s degrees were conferred, John Roberts, BBA ’89, noted in his keynote address that he, too, graduated at a time of unexpected crosscurrents.
“When I was a student, there were many parallels to today: a wicked stock market crash in 1987 when I happened to be taking a portfolio management class here, kind of like the stock market crash that you all have experienced in 2020 and 2022. Unemployment was low but rising as I was entering the workforce, just as you all are experiencing. And there were worldwide concerns about a country that was dominating global business and out-competing companies in Europe and the Americas,” said Roberts, who serves on the Advisory Board of the GW Investment Institute.
“In 1989, Japan was so ascendant that people started calling the country Japan Incorporated, and popular wisdom dictated that Japan would dominate global business for the foreseeable future,” he continued. “The reality of what happened is much more sobering. The Nikkei 225 Japanese stock index just recently regained its 1989 high mark. It started off as Japan’s ‘lost decade’ and turned into three-and-a-half lost decades.”
Roberts, who is a partner and senior portfolio manager at investment advisory firm Corient, has a bachelor’s degree in finance from GW and a juris doctor from the University of Denver College of Law. He has worked in the finance and investment industry for more than three decades, including at PaineWebber and what is now TD Waterhouse.
Roberts encouraged students to think outside the box, share their success with those who supported their journey, find mentors early in their careers and give back by opening doors for others.
Student speaker Anna Shah, who received a Bachelor of Science in International Business with minors in sustainability and German, reminded her classmates that they have the power to change the world.
“I know this sounds daunting, but the truth is when we graduate, we inherit a world of problems. Climate change, global conflicts, an economic recession, to list a few,” said Shah, the founder of the socially conscious thrift store POP!, which focuses on sustainable and affordable fashion. “But as business students, we don’t see a world of problems, we see a world of opportunities through ESG [environmental, social and governance frameworks], trade agreements and economic reforms that advance equity.
“As fresh-faced college graduates, we enter the world deeply motivated, passionate and driven. My biggest takeaway from GWSB education is that we are not too young to make an impact… We are already the Revolutionaries for the change we wish to see in our areas of the business world,” she added.
A day later, at the ceremony for students receiving master’s and doctoral degrees, keynote speaker and U.S. Navy veteran Greg Wong, MBA ’96, advised the graduates to pursue careers they found interesting and fulfilling.
“It was here at GW that I found my love of finance. Before coming here, I didn’t even know what an investment banker was. I didn’t know anything about finance,” said Wong, who manages investments as a trustee of the Wong Family Office after a long career that included investment banking and leadership roles at Web.com, a website hosting, development, and digital marketing company. Last year, he joined the advisory board for the GW Investment Institute and serves as a guest lecturer for courses at the institute.
He told members of the Class of 2024 to pursue work they are passionate about.
“If you don’t like numbers, don’t be an accountant. If you don’t like technology, don’t be a computer programmer. If you don’t like people, don’t work in HR,” he said. “You’ll be surprised how many people don’t like what they do. Find something you really like and do that.”
He also told the graduates that they should have a career plan—but also be prepared to pivot when opportunities arise.
“Be bold. Take calculated risks. Make your life epic,” said Wong.
Hawa Kamara, the student speaker at the graduate ceremonies, received a Global MBA with a concentration in management and joined JP Morgan Chase upon graduation. At GW Business, she served as the graduate president of the DC chapter of the National Black MBA Association while also volunteering as a student success coach for undergraduates.
Kamara, who grew up in Sierra Leone and is a first-generation college student, started her career as a teacher before the desire to start a business pushed her to pursue a GW Business degree. She talked about the diversity she found at GW, including classmates from Puerto Rico, Indonesia, India and elsewhere who became her friends.
“I never imagined that as much as I’ve moved throughout the U.S. that some of my closest friends in my Global MBA program would have originated from some of the farthest places,” she said. “…Despite how different we were in our race, gender, social economic status and overall interest, the one thing that united us was our desire to pursue our own idea of success and create better opportunities for our lives.”
The graduate ceremonies also honored Carlos Christian, a member of the Class of 2024 who died in a car accident in January 2023. His family was present at the Commencement.
In addition to the in-person events, GW Business held a virtual graduation celebration at which Matthew Haney, a medical doctor enrolled in the online MBA program, served as student speaker and David Halliday, a teaching associate professor of Strategic Management and Public Policy gave the keynote address.
Dean Vanessa Perry noted that members of the Class of 2024 distinguished themselves for continuing with their studies despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Unlike any graduating class of recent memory, it is your resilience, your ability to handle change, that sets you apart. Across all of higher education, colleges and universities, an environment in which students have for centuries learned together and built community was suddenly shifted in 2020,” the dean said. “Despite the very different circumstances that served as the backdrop for much of your first year, you persisted in remarkable fashion.”
The GW Business graduates joined the university’s global network of 320,000 alumni in more than 150 countries.