President Nassif welcomes audience Dr. Charles M. Geschke, co-founder of Adobe, spoke at Holy Names University in Oakland on September 19 as part of the university’s 140th anniversary celebration. Holy Names will mark 140 years in Oakland in 2008 and that historic beginning is being celebrated over a 20-month period that started this Spring. “Do what you are passionate about,” Geschke advised HNU students as they think about embarking on careers. Geschke’s speech was titled, “The Adobe Story: Lessons Learned in Building a Software Company.” He described the lessons learned on the journey from a Silicon Valley start-up to becoming a major player in the software industry. He discussed the risk-taking environment of Silicon Valley and the corporate culture that nurtures the growth of successful high-tech companies. Geschke, chairman of the board of Adobe, co-founded the company in 1982 with Dr. John Warnock. The event, was held in the HNU Valley Center for the Performing Arts and featured a reception in the lobby prior to the lecture. Sister Rosemarie Nassif, SSND, PhD, president of the university, welcomed students, faculty staff and community to the event. She noted that Geschke was the first in a series of speakers who will come to HNU during its 140 year anniversary celebration. Geschke was introduced by another Silcon Valley icon, Jim Mitchell, a longtime friend. Mitchell, from Sun Laboratories in Mountain View, and Geschke also worked together in the 1970s at Xerox Corp. Holy Names University traces its roots to the year 1868 when six Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary arrived in Oakland from Montreal, Canada. The teaching community, founded to provide education to the poor, had been invited to Oakland by Father Michael King to establish a school for girls and to train future teachers. The College of Holy Names thrived was later the name was changed to Holy Names College and finally, in 2004, to Holy Names University. The sisters sold the Lake Merritt property to Kaiser Permanente and, in 1956 purchased the property on Mountain Blvd. The coeducational university today has 1,100 undergraduate and graduate students. HNU is located at 3500 Mountain Blvd. in Oakland, just off Highway 13.